Stay
by Apples200
Summary: Picking up from 2x21... I keep to 2x22 story line a tad but I then take my own route... hope you enjoy ! Disclaimer: I do not own Hart Of Dixie. Not one bit, like nada.
1. Chapter 1

**Okay so I know there were a lot of mixed opinions on the 2x21 ending, personally I felt it was poor writing yet again on the writers half but who the hell knows anymore?!  
This is a one-shot picking up from when Wade and Zoe go inside. I may continue it depending on the feedback…Enjoy! **

…

The porch door snapped shut, the noises of the night were safely locked outside as Zoe let the blanket drop from her shoulders and pushed open her bedroom door.  
Wade's hands were sweaty and he had that feeling in his stomach, the feeling he always got when he was around Zoe. Her house still looked the same and smelled the same like those incense candles she insisted on burning every day.

He wasn't really sure what to do, they had done this a million times. One would initiate, the other pretend to be tired and then next thing they knew hours had passed and they still hadn't made it out of the house but this time was different. There was a sense of intensity or angst in the room as Wade closed the door behind him.

She stood there, looking as gorgeous as ever and although she had just downed a bottle of wine she still looked alert and aware which was important to Wade, he didn't know why it just was. Her eyes were glassy as Wade cautiously moved closer to her. Before their breakup he would go about this by picking her up and playfully throwing her on the bed but this time was different.

He moved closer just enough to hold his left hand out and place it on her hip while using his right hand to sling her hair behind her ear. She never liked her ears but Wade loved them and he wanted her to know that. His breathing was heavy and his heart pounding as he reached his head down and pressed his lips on hers. She still used the same lipstick in fact nothing had changed, she still smelled the same and her skin was still soft as ever as Wade supported her bare back with his right hand. That was when it all changed.

Zoe was cautious in placing her hands on his chest but once she felt his toned body through his t-shirt she was at ease. Her nerves were gone as she searched for the zip on his hoodie and pulled it down before lifting it off his body.

This was what they were good at. They may not have been the best communicators or the most trusting but one thing they could do was remove each other's clothes at an unbelievable rate... that was normal to them.

Once Wade had slipped Zoe out of her dress he pulled her in and hoisted her up allowing her to wrap her legs around his body. The feel of her warm skin against his was exhilarating and spurred him on to shower her neck in kisses. Zoe supported herself by gripping onto his soft sandy blonde hair, she loved his hair, it was perfect. Lately she had to stop herself from thinking about Wade and his flawless features but now, now she could embrace his body as much as she wanted, and she wanted to.

'_God I missed this bed'_ Wade thought to himself as he laid her down on the perfectly made bed, although he hated the pillows there was too many and they always got in his way but tonight the pillows weren't a problem tonight nothing could stop him.

Zoe ran her hands up and down his back taking in every muscle and dent before running down his chest and onto the band of his boxers. She missed his boxers. She missed wearing them to bed, watching him walk around in them like it was normal to do so but most of all she missed the man wearing them no matter how many times she had tried to tell herself she didn't she did, she missed Wade, end of.

Wade could get the smell of wine from her breath each time he kissed her but for some reason he didn't think she was feeling the proper buzz someone should after a bottle of wine. He stole glances at her as much as he could, he wanted to smile at her. Could he do that ? Could he show her that this was what he had longed for since Tom and Wanda's wedding ? Could he show her how much he missed her?

Zoe rested her hands on either side of his face as she couldn't help but wonder why hadn't he made the next move? They were lying there in their underwear with the sweat of intensity and want running down their backs, why wasn't he taking the next step? She could feel his body ride up against hers and that's when she thought…. Was Wade nervous? Was he afraid to explore her body like he had done so many times before? If so, he shouldn't be because it was her, he knew that he could be with her or at least he should know, or was he so scared so ashamed of his actions that he felt like he couldn't properly be with her?

'_No, stop it Zoe. Do not connect with him, this is just sex, don't open yourself up to him again'_ Zoe thought to herself but it was no good, that wasn't who she was, that wasn't who they were. She pulled away much to Wade's disappointment but it wouldn't last long as she looked him right in the eyes, his beautiful soft eyes, stroking his feint stubble with her curled up fingers. She didn't need to speak but rather smile softly at him giving him approval not only to reach into the overly familiar drawer and pull out the box of protection but to open his heart, both of their hearts.

…

Silence. That's all that was in the room, that and the feeling of vulnerability. Zoe didn't know what time it was and she was too afraid to turn her head to check her alarm clock, she was also too afraid to turn her head the other way and see Wade lying there, flat on his back with his golden abs exposed to the room. Should she turn to him and really cave and let him hold her like before? She wanted that, to have him hold her and for one night let her know she was safe. That's what he was best at, making her feel safe, that when she was in his arms nothing or no one could hurt her or him.

Their thoughts were almost parallel in fact they were. For once in his life Wade was letting his heart speak and not his pants, he didn't want to do it again, well he did but more importantly he wanted to know what she was thinking, was it as meaningful for her as it was him? Did it give her goose bumps every time their bodies crashed together ? Or was it just something to numb the pain she had been feeling for the past few months? He was afraid to question it.

He stared up at the ceiling, a reminder of the events of the day and that's when he let his mind wander to the worst, maybe it was just sex, she didn't look at him and she most certainly did not look to cuddle with him so maybe it was best he go and they put it down to a moment of weakness once they have an awkward encounter in the kitchen the next morning.

'I should probably go.' He whispered his eyes still fixed on the ceiling.

Zoe's heart sunk, she did not want him to utter those words not after what had just happened between them. This was a huge moment and she was the conductor of what happens next. Does she let him leave and she lies in bed awake and alone all night or does she be honest and let him hold her as they both have a doze off to a peaceful, happy sleep?

Wade took her empty response as his cue to go and threw back the sheet but discovered Zoe's hand dart across and stop him.

'Or you could stay.' She cracked out trying to hold back her emotions 'I want you to stay.'

Wade smiled to himself hoping Zoe didn't see but she did and it was all she needed. Wade lifted his left arm and stretched it above her head inviting her into the safety of his body which she gladly accepted and once her head hit his chest her heart fluttered.

'I want to stay too.' He whispered into her hair 'Come here.'

So there you have it! Please let me know what you thought and if I should continue. Thanks (:


	2. Chapter 2

**Please God let season 3 come soon! Summer will be torture….Anyway; this chapter was written then re-written then written again so I'm really not sure how to play it out! Hope you enjoy and thank you all so much for the amazing feedback on the last chapter, hope I can live up to the expectation lol!**

…**.**

'Well well Lavon Hayes was all but done with thinkin' he would ever see Wade Kinsella in this kitchen ever again… welcome.'

'You're hilarious.'

'I'm just playin'….you want some pancakes?'

'I guess.'

'Come on, give me more than that.'

'Sorry….Yes Lavon I would love some of the pancakes you are about to prepare please.'

Lavon dropped the corners of his mouth along with his shoulders 'No need for sarcasm. You want some or not?'

'I think I'll stick with cereal, thanks.' Wade said as he filled his bowl with dry cereal half-heartedly and waited for the coffee to brew.

Lavon watched on as Wade sat in a daze, the dry cereal crunched around in his mouth being washed down by lukewarm coffee but for some reason it was having no effect as he appeared the same shell of a man he had been all summer.

'So what you doin' for the day?' Lavon asked trying to make conversation.

Wade shrugged his shoulders 'The usual, work. I'm coverin' for Wanda again tonight so it will be late when I get home so don't count me in for dinner.'

'You've worked that night shift most nights this summer, give yourself a break.'

'And do what Lavon? Sit at home and drink beer lookin' out at the stupid pond? Cause I've been doin' that too and honestly work is a lot less painful.' He threw the spoon into the bowl and pushed himself up off the stool.

'I gotta go to work….don't wait up.' He stormed out of the kitchen slamming the door behind him before Lavon could say a word.

'When's this gonna end Lavon?' Annabeth asked as she stood at the door of Lavon's study.

Lavon sighed 'I'm afraid it's only just beginnin'….' He smiled at her but it wasn't a happy positive smile it was a smile of pain and heartbreak kinda like summer had been.

Wade felt as if his head was about to explode, he was on the verge of snapping and he didn't know why. He just wanted to scream, or to get in his car and drive. Whether it was right into the gulf or to Canada he just had to get out, forget it all.  
Once he left the kitchen he made a beeline for his house not that anything there was going to extinguish the ball of rage in his stomach. That was when it hit him, seeing her house looking out at him standing tall and proud, a perfect representation of its tenant but it was also empty, a bit like his heart...

_Wade heard a grumble and that forced him to peel his eyes open even though he knew once he did he was going to have to face the reality of the day and all it brought. He looked over at Zoe who had her head buried in her pillow, she had a tiny smile across her lips and her ears were pricked._

'_Was that your stomach?'_

_Zoe opened her eyes and soon became shy as Wade laughed forcing her to smack his stomach playfully._

'_Shut up I'm hungry okay!'_

'_You mean you didn't get a four course meal at prom?'_

'_You're hilarious….'_

'_I'm just kiddin' Doc. You wanna get breakfast?' He looked down at her, she looked so beautiful but then again when did she not? _

'_Well we are all going to have to eat sometime…just like we're going to have to leave this house.'_

_Wade's heart sank. He knew it was only a matter of time before they crash landed back to the reality that was Zoe Hart's life. He hoped that over the night she would have forgiven him, forgotten all that happened between them and realised her feelings for George were merely fictional but he wasn't an idiot, that was never going to happen, any of it._

'_So how does this screw up your love story with Tucker?'_

_That came as a shock to Zoe, a major one. 'Wade…'_

'_Come on Doc, I know what this is, I know what last night was. Bluebells a small town, word of professions of love travels fairly fast.'_

_He was hurt, and it was her fault and the worst part was the night between them was now gone, what came next was up to her. She knew how he felt even if he wasn't ready to show it. Now she needed to figure out how she felt….last night changed things, a lot._

'_I was a mess…I am a mess, the past few weeks, months have just been one massive blur of pain and confusion. I don't know what I want.'_

'_Is it him? Was this all just cause he turned you down?'_

'_Wade…'_

'_Please Zoe, just, please.'_

'_I don't know.' She said honestly as he dragged his hand across his face and sighed, there was a distance between them figuratively and maybe literally too, they weren't sure._

_He looked over at her; all he wanted to do was kiss her. Kiss her and prove to her that his heart was hers and hers only. And as he kissed her he would make her feel safe, and secure and like nothing in the world, not Jonah, not George nobody could come between them. He wanted to make her Zoe again but for some reason he felt no kiss could do that. Not now anyway._

'_I'm gonna go for a shower.'_

…..

Lemon watched Wade from the end of the bar, he looked so sad and she knew why. He wiped the counter and then again and then again before Lemon had to step in.

'If you wipe that surface anymore a hole may just form.'

Wade shot her an empty look before throwing the rag under the counter and sighed 'I'm just makin' sure it's clean.'

'Wade you have been here all day every day I think maybe you should go home.'

'No can do. Things to be done here Lemon and seen as we own the place it's our responsibility to make sure those things get done.'

'It is also our responsibility to sleep….and shower.'

Wade grunted and walked into the office as Lemon rolled her eyes, but she also knew it wasn't him talking, it was his pain. She looked around the bar, it was half full and the atmosphere was calm but she, like Lavon knew that wasn't going to last for long.

Lemon followed Wade into the office and slammed shut the log book he had in front of him. Wade shut his eyes and crunched his teeth together.

'Lemon your testin' me.'

'Excuse me Wade for not being in a piss mood like you have been all summer but work has to be done and despite all the times you spend here you do nothing! Have you called in that beer order yet? And the sink that's coming in from New York-'

She knew straight away what she had said and she felt awful. She composed herself and put her hand on his shoulder.

'I'm sorry I didn't mean to….you buy a new phone yet or do you wanna use mine?'

Wade looked up at her with those puppy dog eyes, he didn't need to say anything as she reached into her pocket and handed him the phone….

'_I gotta give it to you Lemon. You did a mighty fine job in gettin' Gloriana to play. Business has never been better. Bands are practically knockin' our door down lookin' to play…. We may even turn a profit by Christmas!'_

'_We did a mighty fine job. If it wasn't for you sittin' on that ladder for hours holdin' up that beam we may not have had a Rammer Jammer at all.'_

_Wade smiled 'You know what this deserves?'_

'_What?'_

'_Alcohol!' he whipped out the bottle of red wine as Lemon set out two glasses in front of them. Wade smiled at the bottle of wine, it reminded him of Zoe but everything seemed to remind him of Zoe lately.  
Lemon noticed him taking a trip down memory lane and she had no problem joining him. 'I'd say the Doctor is drinkin' the finest of wines up there in New York and givin' out about how its nothin' compared to this stuff….'_

_Wade smiled; he liked how Lemon was trying to cheer him up even though Zoe wasn't her favourite person. 'It's Zoe, of course she's givin' out.'_

'_Have you talked to her lately?'_

'_I thought about callin' her, but she's up there to clear her head and she knows I'm here if she does wanna talk.'_

'_So you mean you have gone a month without talkin' to her?'_

_Wade nodded 'I don't want her to think I'm bein' all desperate and pressure her into makin' a decision.'_

'_Doesn't mean you gotta put your life on hold for her though.'_

'_Lemon I destroyed her life. I hurt her and if me puttin' my life on hold and showin' her I can be a man worthy of her heart means she will ever trust me again then I'm gonna do it.'_

_Lemon didn't know what to say, she had never heard him speak so honestly, so poetically about anything or anyone. She had her doubts about him post cheating saga but it was in that moment she realised just how awful he felt, how he had been beating himself up for months now, how one mistake turned his world upside down. _

'_You did this for her didn't you?'_

'_Did what?'_

'_The Rammer Jammer, you kept your hand on that boat, you bought the Rammer Jammer for her.'_

'_Yeah. I did.'_

_Lemon's heart warmed a little. It was clear that Wade was lonely, with Zoe in New York and George on tour and Lavon and Annabeth engrossed in their relationship he didn't really have anybody, neither did she. She rose from her seat and gathered the glasses._

'_I'm goin' home, Magnolia has some Twilight evenin' planned or somethin'! You okay to stay til closin'?' _

'_Yeah I'll be fine.'_

'_Okay…night.' She made her way to the door before stopping and turning back 'Oh and Wade?'_

'_Yeah?'_

'_There's nothin' wrong with callin' to ask how she's been….it's not a marriage proposal.'_

_Wade chuckled and with that Lemon left the bar and Wade with his thoughts. He took a long deep drawn out breath before eventually deciding to do it. He pulled out his phone and scrolled down to her name. The ringing seemed endless before it suddenly stopped and he heard her perfect voice on the other end._

'_Hello…?'_

'_Hey…'_

'_Wade?'_

'_Yeah…'_

'_I…I don't know- how are you?'_

'_Fine, workin' and fixin' stuff…same as always. What about you how's New York?'_

'_It's good…its fine, busy very busy.'_

'_You're not at work right now are you?'_

_Zoe cracked a smile; he was so cute when he was nervous. 'No. I'm at home, just out of the shower actually thinking about having some wine then bed.'_

'_I see some things never change.' He said smiling as he relaxed a little._

_Zoe chuckled 'Shut up…if I was there I would totally smack you right about now!'_

'_But you're not…' there was a long pause as Zoe took in his comment, it was filled with pain and loneliness._

'_Yeah…' it was the best she could come up with as the mood between them changed._

'_Look Zoe I uh… I guess I just had to call cause well I miss-' he was interrupted when he heard noises on the other end of the line and it sounded like a mans voice. He was right, it was a man and he recognised the voice._

'_Is that-'_

'_Its nobody…what were you about to say?' she asked eagerly as she knew he was going to tell her he missed her and she wanted nothing more than to hear those words._

_But the voice continued and this time Wade was able to make out what he was saying "Zoe they didn't have any red so I got white, but hey it don't really matter does it?" Wade's heart crumbled into a million pieces and an injection of numbness shot through his veins, he heard Zoe shoo the voice away, was he still on the phone? He wasn't sure if the phone was still in his hand._

'_Wade-'_

'_Jonah? Was that Jonah?'_

'_Wade-'_

'_Just out of the shower? Wine? Then bed?'_

'_Wade it's not what it seems!'_

'_You must be doin' some serious thinkin' up there Doc huh?' there was a shot of venom as he spoke._

'_Wade please it's not like that please just let me explain.'_

'_Don't bother.' He disconnected the call and without really thinking fired the phone across the bar watching it smash into several pieces as it crashed against the wall. Luckily for him it was close to closing and it was bingo night so customers weren't exactly kicking the door down. He ran his hand across his face before making a fist and slamming it against the table. How could he have ever seen so stupid to think he was still a possibility for her?_

…

'So have you guys met Rose's cousin Julie? She's moved from Phoenix to town, she's a kindergarten teacher, fillin' in for Patty while she's havin' her baby.' Annabeth said trying to make conversation during an extremely silent dinner with Wade and Lavon.

'Yeah, she seems really nice. You know who she is Wade?' Lavon asked as Wade kept his eyes on his food.

'Yeah…she came in for lunch with Rose a couple of times.' That was the truth, she had been in once or twice for lunch but what Wade failed to mention was one night the two struck up a conversation about football and talked for hours before Julie had to leave but not before asking Wade if he would like to have dinner sometime. Wade felt weird, he was smiling but his heart was hurting and all he could think about was Zoe even if she was screwing Jonah Breeland in some on-call room. He smiled and told her he would love it but nothing ever happened, she was busy and he was hurting…time just seemed to pass.

'Can you believe George is on tour? George Tucker? Our George Tucker.' Annabeth announced proudly as she read an article from the paper.

Lavon smiled in agreement as Wade could only grunt.

'Alabama's very own George Tucker who originates from Bluebell, a small town in the south is currently lighting up the country music scene whilst on tour with Lily Ann Lonergan. The country crooner who is a fully qualified lawyer said once the opportunity arose he just could not refuse…'I was always told I could sing but never really acted on it. I'm having a blast!'…' Annabeth read out as Wade rolled his eyes.

'This is so excitin'! Our very own George Tucker is a celebrity!'

Wade grabbed the paper from her hand and scanned it 'It's the Alabama Gazette not the Rolling Stone. I'd hardly call him a celebrity!'

Lavon tensed up at Wade's sour attitude but Annabeth brushed it off 'Wow Wade I'm so glad you've decided to join us for dinner, you bring such humor and joy to the table.'

Wade grunted 'We all know Golden Boy is gonna waltz back in here on cloud nine and the minute The Doctor comes back he'll be all poor me, my life is so terrible I love Lemon oh no wait I love Zoe, I don't love Zoe I love Tansy actually you know what I love Zoe but I turn her down every chance I get!'

Lavon and Annabeth completely taken aback by Wade's sudden outburst looked at each other. The pain was practically oozing out of him. They knew Wade's problem was not with George or his messed up love life but rather with Zoe.

'Wade….'

'I tell her I love her and she jumps into bed with Jonah….' He said quietly looking into his plate of untouched food.

Annabeth sighed 'You don't know that for sure! And didn't she spend the next few days callin' you tryin' to explain? You have to stop with this whole paranoia thing, its not healthy.'

Wade looked at Lavon and then back at Annabeth, he didn't know what to say because truth was he didn't know what to think. He had replayed every possible scenario over and over in his mind and every time he came up with the same conclusion: He was never going to be good enough for Zoe Hart and it was time to let go, but how?

'Thanks for dinner you guys but I'm not really hungry. I think I might just go home.'

Lavon looked over at Annabeth as she nodded a nod of approval 'Wade come on, I don't want you to be alone when you're like this. How about we get a case of beer and play some X-box.'

'Nah Lavon, be with your girl. I'll see you guys tomorrow.'

Lavon tried to chase him down but it was no use and Annabeth convinced him what he needed right now was to be alone, and to let it all out even if that meant drinking himself into a numbing stupor. She was right, that was what he intended on doing and if memory served him correctly he had a 6 pack of the Dixie Stops finest waiting for him in the fridge. He made his way through the plantation, there was utter silence, and not even crickets chattered away in the bushes, it was just silent.  
Wade dug his hands deep in his pockets and his eyes on his feet as he approached the turn off for his and Zoe's road, her house was still there and even though he knew it would be there he still needed to double check, just to be sure.  
As he walked up the dirt road he saw something in front of him, it was a person, small and dressed in black. Julie? He thought to himself smiling as he approached the person but his expression soon changed when he figured out who his mystery guest was.

'Zoe….'

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**Hope you enjoyed it and please let me kn****ow what you thought! Thanks **


	3. Chapter 3

**Thanks so much for all the reviews! The last chapter was very much from Wade's side so this chapter we see Zoe's side… Hope you enjoy!**

…..

Wade wanted to run whether that was into the gulf or under a truck he wanted out but he was stuck, frozen. He kept trying to get his limbs to move but they just wouldn't seem to do so as they both stood there awkwardly.

'Zoe…'

'Hi…'

'What are you doin' here?' He asked timidly. Wade threw his guard up when Zoe tried to walk closer but he stepped back making it clear this was not going to be a big romantic moment she may have concocted in her mind.

She was hurt when he stepped back; he had never done that before. She took a huge long drawn out breath as she clasped her hands together 'Wade, here's the thing…. I have spent the past 3 months in stupid hospital trying forget everything I left behind, everyone I left behind but I've learned that you can't run from your problems and no matter where you go those problems will be there waiting for you when you get back.' Wade sighed and loosened his body a bit as Zoe moved one step closer 'When I left I had a pain in my heart but the minute you called me that pain left, but my real pain started the minute I left you at that fence because the truth is I should have told you that I love yo-'

'No Zoe stop.' He said shaking his head 'You can't do that alright you can't.' he turned around and headed for the gatehouse filled with anger and shock.

'Wade please wait.'

'You're not meant to be back for another two weeks.' He said hurt.

'But I really need to-'

'Just stop okay. I don't want to hear it.' He picked up the pace as Zoe scurried after him.

'Okay fine how about we don't talk!' Wade stopped in his tracks and swung around. Why did Zoe just suggest that? What was she thinking? She didn't want his body, she wanted him.

Wade couldn't believe she could have the audacity to suggest such a thing. 'Sex? You want us to have sex?'

'That kinda just slipped-'

'You think that I'd be okay with havin' sex with you? I can't believe you, and even if I could… I wouldn't.'

Zoe was confused, what did he mean by that? 'What do you mean even if you could?'

'I mean…I took a page from your book and moved on.'

'Moved on?' Zoe could barely utter the words.

'Yeah so you can go on and be with Tucker. There's nothin' standin' in your way anymore.'

Wade looked her up and down; he had to use every bone in his body to refrain from taking her into his arms and bringing her to the safety of his gatehouse. There was a long pause between them both, Zoe standing there broken and fragile and Wade hurt, like he had been all summer. Slowly but surely Wade lifted his feet and turned around, walking away leaving Zoe with only her tears.

…..

'Let me get this straight. You left Bluebell to get away from your drama, your back not five minutes and bam you got new drama.'

'Lavon!'

'What? That's what I can get from it.'

Annabeth rolled her eyes at Lavon's pointless comment and turned her attention back to the upset Zoe curled up on the couch with a carton of ice-cream in her lap.

'No AB Lavon is right. I left to get away from the drama not to cause more….. What have I done?!'

'Zoe he's just hurtin' right now and you appearin' on his doorstep isn't exactly what he had in mind. Just give him time, he'll come around.'

Zoe scoffed 'What's the point, he's moved on anyway.'

Lavon and Annabeth looked at each other 'Moved on?'

'Yeah… oh god he's moved on...!' Zoe knocked her head back and groaned.

'Moved on to whom?'

'I don't know Lavon!' Zoe shrieked 'We didn't exactly chat.'

'Okay look Zoe.' Annabeth put her hands on her shoulders and turned her around 'You know how Wade feels about you, we all do. He is hurtin' right now but he will come around but you can't sit here like this.'

'Why not?'

'Because that's how Wade has been all summer and as a result he has turned into Bluebell's biggest bitter pill!'

Zoe smiled but couldn't help but be curious over what exactly Wade had been through over the summer. If he had been hurting just as much as she had been….

'_So basically you're back at square one?' Jonah asked as he picked at the food on his plate._

'_No, I am getting away from the mess I made to clear my head.'_

'_And because you're back at square one.'_

'_Jonah I did not let you buy me lunch just so you could repeat the same sentence over and over again.'_

'_We__ll apologi__es for that Zoe but someone has got to state the obvious, that is before a 3__rd __handsome devil was thrown into the mix.'_

'_A third? Who?' Zoe looked at him as he slowly revealed a coy look on his face, that was when she copped it. 'Jonah get something into your stupid brain…pigs will fly before I even consider you, for anything!'_

'_Mmm that's interesting, didn't you say almost the same thing about Wade? And look at you now.'_

_Zoe's head suddenly dropped along with her mood and Jonah instantly realised his mistake 'Zoe I'm sorry I didn't mean to- I'm sorry.'_

'_No its fine really…I'm fine. I am not going to sit and cry over him anymore.'_

'_But…'_

'_But I also imagined how we would tell each other those 3 little words. It would probably be during a massive fight and I would have him so frustrated that he was on the verge of blowing something up then suddenly he would just blurt it out then we would spend the night well you know… I did not however expect him to tell me after we broke up and just as I was leaving for 3 months.'_

'_Just call him.'_

'_I did!' she explain as she pushed her plate of food away and giving Jonah the go ahead to finish off her sandwich 'I tried calling him a million times after he called me but I didn't even get his voicemail. I know him Jonah. I know that he is sitting at home imagining all these scenarios of us…' she wiggled her finger between them as Jonah gave a hopeful smile despite knowing there wasn't even a slim chance of him and Zoe._

'_You talked to George?'_

'_George?' Zoe questioned him._

_Jonah threw his hands up in the air 'Zoe, do you even know what's goin' on in your head anymore?!'_

'_George is on tour with Lily Ann and from what I can gather he is having an excellent time which he deserves, and I am happy about that.'_

'_But…'_

'_But nothing. You wanna know where I really stand Jonah?'_

'_It would be nice to understand your current mental state so I can give it to the Doctors after I have you committed.'_

_Zoe rolled her eyes 'George didn't chase me half way round Alabama, instead he drank. George didn't tell me he loved me. George didn't call me to tell me he missed me. Maybe he is right, what we had between us was all fantasy, something we had worked up and probably took too far.'_

'_So, it's Wade?'_

'_I need time to just, move on from everything that happened.'_

'_You mean him cheating?'_

'_Jonah.'_

'_Zoe let me give you a little hint, addressing the issue for what it is, is step one of moving on. So say it, say he cheated, say your angry say you're hurting and that your trust in him is flawed but also say you love him, because you do.'_

'_I'm still never going to sleep with you.' Jonah laughed and knocked his head back, he had given up on that idea a month ago when he walked her back to her hotel room after the wedding. She was drunk and hurting and when she leaned on him for support he took the highroad and tucked her into bed and left a tall glass of water at her bedside. He enjoyed the banter between them though and every chance he had to tease her, he took it._

…

'Zoe!' Rose shrieked from the entrance of the Butter-Stick. Zoe lifted her head and smiled at Rose and the tall skinny brunette beside her, she ushered Rose over and made room for the two girls to sit but Rose insisted on hugging her first.

'It's so good to see you; I have missed you so much over the summer! I thought you weren't coming home for another two weeks though?'

'Yeah there was a slight change in plans but I am back now with a clear mind and new shoes.' The two girls giggled before Rose remembered the girl sitting beside her.

'Oh Zoe, this is my cousin Julie, she's going to be the kindergarten teacher for the next while.'

'Hi it's really nice to meet you.'

'So you're the infamous Zoe Hart my nerdy cousin won't stop talking about! It's really nice to meet you too.'

Zoe blushed just a tiny bit 'So how are you fitting in?'

'It's a big change from Phoenix but.' She remembered her encounter with Wade and smiled '…I think I may just survive.'

Zoe smiled completely unaware of the thoughts going through Julies mind 'Well if you ever need to escape from the madness that is Bluebell my door is always open!'

'I think I may just take you up on that offer thanks.' She said smiling when suddenly someone caught her eye from outside the window and that someone was Wade, immediately Julie's attention switched from Rose and Zoe to Wade who was standing outside the post office with Lemon deep in conversation.

'Will you guys excuse me? I have something to do. Rose I'll see you tonight; it was great to meet you Zoe.'

Julie had darted out the door before Zoe could even open her mouth. 'That was weird.'

Rose shrugged her shoulders 'so how was New York, was it as amazing as it always is or as Gossip Girl makes it out to be.'

Zoe rolled her eyes 'It was fine, you know work and work and-'

'Jonah?' Rose interjected as Zoe nearly dropped her cup of coffee 'Rose!' she looked around to see if anyone had heard but they seemed to be good.

'Oh Zoe relax besides everyone knows.'

'Knows what? Nothing happened!'

'Well that's not what Wade thought hence Lemon discovering smashed glasses and a mobile phone across the Rammer Jammer one mornin' in July.'

Zoe's face dropped, what had happened over the summer….?

'_You saw more in me than I ever saw in myself' those words just kept running through her mind as she zoned out on the world around her._

'_ ? ?' Zoe was unresponsive as all she could think about was Wade. All the words he said but more importantly all the words she didn't say._

'_ !' Zoe jumped at the high pitch screech coming from the intern beside her 'Are you ready?'_

'_Yeah sure…' Zoe mumbled as she dug her hands into the pockets of her white lab coat._

'_Ms Kenny, 29 presents with chest pains, vomiting and headaches.' The intern said as Zoe pulled back the curtain to discover a young blonde woman propped up in the bed with a basin on her lap and an extremely worried looking man at her side._

'_Jane?' Zoe said looking down at the chart 'Hi I'm Zoe Hart, I'll be your doctor today.'_

'_Hart?'_

'_Yes. Hart/Heart I know what you're thinking… So Jane it appears you have some extra muscle around your heart that is putting pressure on the blood vessels and is the reason for the dizziness and the chest pains. I'm going to order some more tests before booking an OR.'_

'_OR? As in operation room? She has to get surgery?' the man interjected in a worried tone._

'_Michael sweetie relax let finish.'_

'_It's a simple procedure I promise and the sooner we get in the better' Zoe tried to speak with confidence but it didn't calm the man's nerves._

'_Baby why don't you go call my mom let her know what's happening.' The young woman suggested and her partner agreed. Zoe nodded to her intern to bring the man downstairs and Zoe pulled up a stool beside the bed._

'_There really is nothing to worry about, I'm pretty good.' Zoe said cockily as the woman smiled. 'I admire your confidence he's just a bag of nerves because well we're just back together and we agreed to take it slow and heart surgery isn't exactly taking it slow!'_

_Zoe smiled down at the woman, maybe this girl was the guidance she needed, to get her through her summer of pain 'If you don't mind me asking, why did you guys split up?'_

'_He slept with my best friend.'_

_Zoe raised her brow and wasn't sure what else to say other than 'Oh'. This was getting creepy._

'_Yeah.'_

'_How do you even look him in the eye after what he did?'_

'_That's the thing, I didn't. Once I found out what he did I ended it naturally enough. So I didn't look him in the eye because he wasn't there to look at and I missed that.'_

_It took Zoe a moment to process what she had said but it soon clicked._

'_I tried to move on, convince myself that he wasn't the one for me but no matter what I did he was there, in my heart and although he broke my heart he also made my hear breakable. He made me a better person and one moment of weakness should not decide the rest of our lives.'_

_Zoe gave a soft painful smile._

'_I gather from the look in your eyes something similar happened to you.'_

'_Yup. It wasn't my best friend but still, it happened.'_

'_And how are you guys now?'_

'_He told me he loved me and that I saw more in him than he ever saw in himself. Then I left to take this job.'_

'_And now all you can think about is if he still feels the same?'_

'_You betcha.'_

_The woman chuckled ' I've learned a lot of things since my relationship with Michael but the thing that stands out most is…' she sat up in the bed and focused her eyes on Zoe's eyes 'Guys put up with ten times more crap than we do cause well it's our crap they're dealing with!, they're human they make mistakes, we all do.'_

_Zoe took in every word the patient said with great thought 'Don't let one flaw destroy a great thing.'_

…

Zoe clicked her pen furiously as she swung around in her office chair. This was definitely a change of pace from New York. She had seen one patient since breakfast and Brick wasn't even around to annoy her, it was times like this she missed Jonah. Not in a romantic sort of way but for the banter and he did get her through some pretty dark days during the summer.  
She soon heard a knock on the door and pretended to look busy as she called the person in.

'George!' she blurted out. She was definitely not expecting this on a Monday afternoon.

'I see you're just knee-deep in work.' He said awkwardly with his hands in his back pockets as he moved closer to her desk.

'You're hilarious.' She said coldly as she looked him up and down. He looked the same as ever maybe a bit heavier given he had been living on a bus for the past 3 months.

'You got a minute?'

'Depends, what do you want to talk to me about?'

'How we left things.'

'You mean our little chat on your boat before you took off for the summer without even a goodbye.'

'Yeah that one.'

'Have at it.' She folded one leg over the other along with her arms 'I have all day.'

George sighed and pulled up a chair across from her. There was a moment's pause between the two before George cleared his throat.

'Listen Zoe, I was in a really dark place before the summer. Tansy and I had just broken up and you had come-'

'George I was there I remember I don't need a recap.'

'Right, sorry.' He twisted his neck nervously 'I left on tour with a fuzzy mind and broken heart and over the summer I've realised I dealt with the situation horribly and I, just like you needed space to just…think. So I thought I thought a lot and well… Zoe Hart will you have dinner with me this weekend?'

'George-'

'I know you're pissed with the things I said and about Wade but I figured you made it through the summer without sleepin' with him or thinkin' bout him then I was wrong, you don't have feelin's for him and so maybe it could finally be our time.' He gave her that look that had got her so many times before but not this time.

Zoe shook her head furiously; she could not believe this was happening all over again, she hadn't even unpacked yet! Why was he doing this again? Wade was right George did have terrible timing, just terrible.

'George I am flattered but I'm sorry you're 3 months too late.'

'Too late? Whatever happened to the whole 'I'll wait for you the stars will align' thing?'

'That was before-'

'Wade.' He said angrily which didn't sit too kindly with her.

'George you have no right to be pissed here okay? You took off for the summer feeling sorry for yourself while Wade chased me down! Stop acting so poor old me right now!'

George was a bit taken aback by that statement, he had never seen Zoe stand up for Wade like that but more importantly turn him down.

'So you're sayin' you chose Wade?'

'I'm saying that I was so focused on this fantasy between us I let a good thing go, a thing that yes had it flaws and not just flaws by him but me too and I need to start acknowledging my relationship with Wade for what it was so I'm sorry…George you can't let one flaw destroy a great thing.'

'And that great thing isn't us is it?'

'No I'm sorry.'

….

It was after her talk with George did Zoe realise it was time she practiced what she had been preaching and made her way over to Wade's gatehouse. She had avoided him all day and spent the day thinking about what she was going to tell him, she knew his puppy dog eyes were going to be an obstacle but she needed to power through and be honest with him.

The lights were on but the blinds were closed meaning he was probably sitting in a huff drinking his problems away. She took a deep breath before knocking on the glass panel with her knuckles. She could hear movement from inside and then the door opened.

He was shocked to see her, naturally enough but still managed to crack a small smile. He looked more dressed up than normal with that white button downed shirt and black jeans and evidently a comb had been ran through his hair.

'Doc. What are you doin' here?' Suddenly all those times she had come to his door apologising came rushing back to him.

'I needed to talk to you, without screaming and snapping. Just to talk.'

Wade winced and rubbed the back of neck with his hand 'Look Zoe-'

'Okay fine I'll talk, you listen.' She clasped her hands together as parallels of Christmas came rushing back to them both. Wade tried to stop her but at the end of the day she was still the same stubborn Zoe as always.

'First off I just want to say that nothing I mean nothing happened between me and Jonah ever. He tried believe me but- it was never like that.' Wade nodded his head slowly, he believed her but they both knew that wasn't the issue.

'I don't regret going away this summer. I needed to get away not just because of our break-up but because I was a mess and I had lost sight of who I was and what I wanted. What I do regret however is all the things I never said to you.' Wade cocked his head suddenly all his attention was fixed on her, her beautiful eyes and soft lips and flawless skin.

'You caught me completely off-guard at that fence. I am so proud of you Wade for everything you've done. The Rammer Jammer, letting me go to New York, putting up with Lemon! All of it. I am so so proud of you and I only saw that greatness in you because you let me see it. I know that we are far from perfect and it will probably take us a long time to get back to who we used to be or maybe two completely new people I don't know but I want to give it a go. A real go.'

Wade nearly collapsed. Was this really happening? Was the girl he was so head over heels in love with finally telling him what he had wanted to hear all summer? He tried to breath but he couldn't. God why was he just standing there? Kiss her he told himself go on kiss her. But he couldn't.

'Doc-'

'What I'm trying to tell you is that I am so in lo-'

'Zoe!' A voice came from inside the gatehouse as Wade's eyes crashed shut, Zoe jumped a little at the peppiness of the tone and looked over Wades shoulder to see who was calling her name. Standing there with two beers in her hand was Julie, it took Zoe a while to remember who the girl was but she soon caught on and her focus fell to Wade, he was staring at the ground in attempt to shield himself from her painful stares.

'Julie…hi.' She said gracefully with her eyes still stuck on Wade.

'What are you doing here so late? Wade at least invite her in.'

'Oh no it's okay.' Zoe said taking the heat off Wade 'I live across the pond and I just called by to ask Wade for something.'

'Well what do you need?' She chirpily as she placed her hand on Wade's shoulder blade which shot through Zoe like a dagger.

'I uhm… I just came by for a…. for a cup of sugar.'

Wade's head shot up his breathing was heavy and forced and he could see Zoe was beginning to crumble as her eyes were glassy. Julie was completely unaware of the tension between the two of them as she looked around 'I don't think Wade has any sugar, do ya babe?'

Zoe winced as Wade cleared his throat 'No… no. I gave my last bit away but there is a chance of some still being here, the Doc knows that.' Zoe caught on to what he was trying to get across to her but she was too hurt.

'Yeah I do, I guess my timing was just off….Goodnight you guys.'

Julie looked at Wade and then at Zoe 'Night.'

Zoe turned away and waited until she was no longer in their hearing range before letting out a huge sob; it was tearless but painful as she wrapped her arms around herself for comfort. Her shoulders jumping up and down as her cries worsened. It was a struggle to make it to the steps of her house and an even worse struggle to find her keys. Completely unknown to her Wade was still at his door. His eyes on her every move as his chest stung with pain.

Dammit he thought to himself. Just dammit.

**Thanks so much for all the reviews! I didn't really know how to write Zoe and George because well I just don't know what is going through Zoe Hart's head! I have a feeling that something like this will happen in season 3. So yeah, please let me know what you thought. Thanks (:**


	4. Chapter 4

**This is a short chapter as it is leading up to a bigger chapter. I appreciate the amazing feedback so much! I hate writing so much angst but it will all pay off don't worry ;) plus I also feel when season 3 returns it's going to take a long time for Zoe and Wade to return to normal. Anyway hope you enjoy nevertheless! (:**

…

'Damn you look like ass.' Lavon said commenting on Wade's appearance of a tank top, jeans and ruffled hair as he poured a cup a fresh cup of coffee and practically threw himself onto the stool.

Wade could only grunt.

'Oh great we're back to that.'

'Zoe came to my door last night to tell me she wants to try again with us and Julie may have been there.'

Lavon nearly dropped the cup of coffee from his hand 'I'm sorry what?!'

'Yeah. She was sayin' all this stuff 'bout how she was proud of me and that she wanted us to give it a real go and then Julie came up behind me with a beer in her hand.'

'Aw Wade, no. Please tell me you didn't just stand there?'

Wade gave him a blank look 'I didn't know what else to do! But nothin' happened with Julie, we had a beer and she left. I told her I didn't feel well.'

'And then you went after Zoe?'

'And then I went to bed.'

Lavon rolled his eyes 'Wade!'

'What was I meant to do Lavon!? You know just as much as me that if I went over to Zoe Hart's house she would have killed me and buried my body within a space of an hour!'

'Wade are you a purebred idiot? Zoe is in love with you! That's why she came home!'

Wade shook his head 'No Lavon okay see that is not how Zoe Hart's story goes alright. She wants to be with Tucker but she is just tellin' herself she wants me cause Tucker is gone and she's lonely.'

'Oh yeah that would explain why she turned down George yesterday when he asked her out.'

Wade's eyes bulged from his head 'Wait George is back?'

Lavon nodded 'Rolled in yesterday mornin' and first thing he did was visit Zoe and asked her out, but she told him no, that she wanted to be with you.'

Wade dropped his shoulders along with his mouth. What had he just done? He ran his hand through his hair.

He turned to Lavon and his blank emotion soon turned to dramatic anger 'Lavon what have you done!'

Lavon blinked numerous times in a state of shock 'Excuse me?'

'You heard me! What the hell have you done?!'

'How the hell is any of this my fault!?'

Wade paused 'Because you- well you know it was you who- It just is alright!' He threw his head back and growled. What had just happened? One minute Zoe Hart was his attractive neighbour who had eyes for another man then the next thing she was at his door saying she wanted to be with him and he did nothing, he just stood there.

'Oh god and Julie was there. Oh god oh god.' He knocked his head against the countertop.

'Yeah about that, whole Julie thing. When did that happen?'

'A while ago, but I did nothin' cause of Zoe but then I guess out of anger I asked her out and then next thing you know we're drinkin' beer and laughin' and I ask her back to my place and then Zoe knocked on the door.'

'Wade…'

'I know…'

'Wade…'

'Lavon, what am I going to do?'

'Well what do you want to do?'

'I dunno I mean its Zoe, I love her!' he said smiling but it didn't last long 'Its Zoe, who treated me like crap, I treated her like crap we treated each other like crap but she wants to try again, I want that too. Christ I've waited all summer for that.'

'And Julie?'

'I dunno you know she's nice and she's hot, really hot and we always seem to have somethin' to talk about and she is most definitely not wrapped in half the drama Zoe is.'

'But…' Lavon said with a cheeky smile on his face.

'What makes you think there is a but?'

'But…'

Wade gave in, Lavon knew him all too well 'But, she isn't Zoe. Nobody is ever goin' to be like Zoe.'

…

'Big Z open up, come on I know you're in there. I can smell the donut frostin' from here.' Lavon begged from behind the porch door. He could hear her inside but she refused to come out so he had to take necessary mayoral steps to see if his tenant was okay, or at least that's how he explained the broken front door to Annabeth.

'You're not even going to ask what that noise was….'

'Sounded a bit like my heart last night...' she said dramatically from beneath the safety of her bedcovers. Lavon rolled his eyes and made his way to the bedside. The room wasn't in half the state it was after their breakup. There was no pizza boxes or sticky lollipops but there was 2 large bottles of wine sitting pretty on the bedside locker.  
The first thing Lavon did was draw back the curtains allowing the light to cut through the room but Zoe never budged. Lavon then picked up the two bottles that sparked a reaction from her though.

'The second one isn't empty, the one in your left hand.'

'If you think Lavon Hayes is gonna let you drink day old wine at 11 o'clock in the mornin' then you got another thing comin'! Come on, get up.'

'I am a grown woman Lavon now I may not have my life completely under control but one thing I do have control over is when I want to drink and right now I want to drink!' she tried to snatch the bottles from his hand but he was much too quick and seen as she had no intentions on leaving her bed the task of dumping the bottles in the trash can proved miniscule.

Zoe gave a little moan but soon threw herself back down onto the mattress and pulled the covers up around her body.

'He feels awful Zo. You know that right?'

'No offensive Lavon but I don't care.'

Lavon shook his head, it was becoming ever more clear to him that he was going to have to be the clear mind in this weird relationship the 3 of them had formed 'I think you do or else you wouldn't be lying in this….state.'

Zoe scoffed; state was one word for it annihilation of the heart was another. She rolled around revealing her face to Lavon who could only sympathize with her. He could see the pain in her eyes and that wasn't even including the running mascara and smudged eye shadow.

'He sent Julie home after you left…' Lavon said cautiously as Zoe's heart winced at the sound of her name.

'She was still there in the first place.'

'Yeah because he was in a hurt and angry over you being in New York, with Jonah!'

'Nothing happened with Jonah!' she snapped at him.

'And nothing happened with Julie!' he snapped back at her. Zoe was speechless and Lavon hoped that that would be enough to get her to realise Wade wanted to be with her and maybe she could climb out of bed and go over to him and talk at least but who was he kidding, this was Wade and Zoe. Nothing came simple to these two, ever.

'Lavon I have tried to tell that man I love him twice! Twice! And twice I was interrupted. Wade has made it clear he wants to move on so I'm going to do the same.'

Lavon sighed, that was not what he had in mind. 'He loves you Zoe, more than he realises. Just go talk to him, please.'

….

Zoe had avoided anything to do with Wade for two days. Anything to do with Wade was bypassed which meant the kitchen, the Rammer Jammer, the Butter-Stick and the town square. Her hibernation was not to last for long though as on the 3rd day morning in fact they had their first encounter.  
Zoe's intentions were to grab a quick cup of coffee and then spend the day at the office despite having nothing to do and of course to avoid Wade. For Wade his intentions were to avoid everything and anything that moved and especially Zoe Hart.  
They both seemed to be out of luck.

Wade heard the door open from behind him with his head buried in the fridge, he presumed it was Lavon and he was going to argue with him over the lack of peanut butter when he soon realised it was not Lavon, far from it in fact.

'Hey Lavon it wouldn't kill ya to get some more-'he swung around to see Zoe standing there in just as much shock as he was 'Oh, Doc.'

Zoe nodded; it was all she could do in that moment.

'I uh thought you were Lavon. Out of peanut butter.' He held up the empty jar and jiggled it in front of her in an attempt to kill the awkwardness as Zoe gave a ghost smile.

Wade shut the fridge door and looked around. Now would be a really good time for Lavon to come home Wade thought as they stared at each other.

'I haven't seen you around much.' Wade said in a sincere tone as Zoe ventured closer to him.

'Well you know Brick and Shelby are off on yet another holiday so it's just me…'

'Doesn't mean you gotta sit around in that office all day lookin' at magazines.'

Zoe smiled at how well he knew her 'I have to be on hand in case of a medical emergency!'

'Just in case there is a flu epidemic?' Wade joked.

'Wouldn't be the first time, but of course you're the expert when it comes to causing an epidemic.' She said smiling sweetly at him as they both reminisced.

'I had good reasons to get back to town and no sniffle was gonna stand in my way.' Wade said proudly as Zoe relaxed just that little bit more, those words were one by one stitching up her broken heart. She felt like she need to respond, the little smile was enough for them both to know that their past was not forgotten.

Wade couldn't just stand there however without mentioning the elephant in the room 'Look Doc about the other night-'

'Oh you don't have to mention it, I was stupid coming by like that-'

'No I am so glad you did cause well nothin' happened with Julie and –'

'Yeah Lavon told me but that doesn't really change things.'

'Well I'd hoped it would.' He said hopefully as Zoe's face lit up.

'Why would you think that?' she asked full of curiosity.

'Well I have been thinkin' bout what you said, bout givin' it another go and well I really want to do that Zoe-'

Zoe had to interrupt him once more before he said the words she had wanted to hear since she got back to town. Havin presumed Wade had moved on she decided to do the same well that and pick the thing that hurt Wade the most, George Tucker. After Lavon left her house that morning Zoe decided the best way to get back at Wade and his new piece of meat was to prove to him she was fine but to mostly get a reaction from him and seeing her on a date with George Tucker was the best way to do so.

'Wade before you say anything else I just have to tell you something.'

'Sure what is it?' He really didn't want to know because he knew from that look in her eyes it was going to be bad.

'I'm kind of going out on a date with George tonight.'

.

.

.

.

.

**Another cliff-hanger I know! And I am sorry about that but the next chapter is the turning point in the story so hopefully you guys will stay hooked til then. Hopefully by Thursday maybe Friday. Hope you enjoy it **


	5. Chapter 5

**Hope you guys enjoy and thanks for all the reviews (:**

…

As luck would have it George Tucker was held up in court all day and was forced to cancel his plans with Zoe that night much to the delight of Wade who sat on his porch drinking beer until he saw Zoe return home minus George. His mind was at ease for now at least.  
Wade's reaction to Zoe and George's date was not what Zoe had been expecting. He went silent, he simply nodded his head gave her an awkward smile and stormed out of the kitchen retreating to the Rammer Jammer office for the entire day leaving Lemon curious as to why her business partner was now suddenly so keen on doing inventory.  
Zoe was left very unsatisfied after her conversation with Wade; she had at least hoped he would have shown one sign of jealousy. Her day was to get even worse when she was having lunch with Annabeth and overheard someone say how Wade Kinsella had ended it with the new teacher for the Doctor. Zoe nearly choked on her sandwich, she shouldn't have interrupted him that morning in the kitchen and when she tried to confront him about it he told her it was too late and that it was always going to be George he also pointed out it took her less than a week to doubt him and his faithfulness and moved onto George. He wished her and George good luck on their date in a spiteful tone before returning back to his paperwork.  
Zoe wasn't sure what had just happened and so when George called to say he would be late she saw it as the perfect opportunity to cancel but a small part of her wanted to go on a date with him and she knew if she worked hard enough the sight of her and George would push Wade to the point of snapping.  
It wasn't her intention to have the date at the Rammer Jammer it just sort of worked out that way seen as Fancies was closed for repair of a burst pipe and she really was not bothered going into Mobile just for a dinner, she wasn't that excited about this date.

'This is a bad idea Zoe. Just plain bad.' Annabeth said trying to convince Zoe not to go as she applied her make-up at the kitchen counter with a glass of wine by her side. Zoe shook her head adamantly, nobody was talking her out of this and if anyone was going to talk her out if it that would be Wade but he hadn't been seen all day even though Wanda assured her that he was working tonight.

'Annabeth, Wade has proven in recent days that he doesn't care anymore, he had no problem moving on with Julie and he certainly had no problem telling me that he was not bothered by the idea of me and George so I am going to go out with George, have a nice meal well by Rammer Jammer standards and see what happens.' She finished applying her mascara and stood up 'As far as I'm concerned Wade has made it very clear he is moving on so I am doing the same.'

'With George?'

'Yeah maybe, I don't know all I know is once I told Wade I was going out with George he smiled, it wasn't a jealous smile or spiteful smile it was a typical Wade-like smile.'

'He was putting up a front!'

'Please don't defend him….'

'But Zoe you didn't see him all summer! He was miserable.'

'Yeah and then the minute I get back he's jumping into bed with other girls! Was all that just a front too?'

Annabeth shook her head and brushed off Zoe's sarcastic comment because she knew she was just hurt.

'Wade and I will never be on the same page and it's about time we accept that despite our feelings and just move on.'

Annabeth shook her head, Zoe was the most stubborn person she had ever met and she was best friend with Lemon Breeland but she had a feeling this night was not going to go as Zoe had planned in that whacky mind of hers.

….

'Can I ask you a question?' Lavon asked Wade as he sat at the bar with a beer between his hands. Wade looked up at him with a puss on his face 'If it's about Zoe Hart, George Tucker or the word date then no, you may not.'

Lavon sighed 'Alright it's not about George or the word date but it is about Zoe.'

Wade growled he only left the office because Lemon kept chewing at his ear and his conditions were simple: No one talks to him and so far things were working out well that was until Lavon showed up to inform him of Zoe and George's date which he already knew about. He tried to act like he was fine and displayed this by keeping his head down but on the inside he was dying. Why was he such an idiot? He had lost count of the amount of times he had turned Zoe down this week alone and although he had his reasons it still hurt like hell.

'Lavon…'

'Nah listen I'm not here to lecture or to take sides I just want to know why you keep turning her down. I mean yeah at first you didn't know where her head was but now you do know and you keep shootin' her down.'

Wade threw the dish-rag on the counter and leaned in 'I was about to tell her I had ended it with Julie when she told me she was going out with George and I knew in that minute that that's who we are that's how we are always gonna be.'

'What's that?'

'Not Zoe and George. The Doctor has was wanted George Tucker since the day she landed in town and now she can finally have him.' he had so much pain in his eyes and his voice as he said those words when it hit Lavon, Wade was still in love with her and wanted to be with her but was afraid of losing her to the idea of George Tucker and it made sense because although he was the reason for their break-up it wasn't entirely his fault and a huge part of that was Wade's insecurities towards George.

'Wade, she's going out with George just to make you jealous. You know that right?'

Wade wasn't fully convinced as he shrugged 'Maybe but Zoe needs to know if all that with Tucker is what she has built up in her mind. If it is then, well it is and if not I'll be here.'

As Wade uttered those words the door swung open and in walked Zoe and George. George entered with a sense of pride and prowess that made Wade want to crush his face into the nearest wall and Zoe walked behind, timid and shy.  
All eyes fell on them in the most unsubtle way possible as George found them an empty table. Wanda looked at Wade and then Wade at Lemon who stared at Lavon before Lavon took charge and suggested Wanda takes their orders.  
In typical Zoe fashion she ordered a bottle of wine, she claimed for the table but really it was for her and her nerves. George also asked for a glass of wine which Wade laughed at, how unmanly of him he thought as he pretended to clean glasses and cups.

'Do you get the impression that people are staring at us?' George asked as Zoe flicked through the menu despite already knowing what she wanted.

'Yes and considering my ex-boyfriend and your ex-fiancé are two of those people I am very aware of it.'

George gave a little chuckle as a response which in a way sparked off the beginning of an extremely awkward and uncomfortable meal. Whether it was the fact Zoe was just used to Wade and his childish jokes and witty personality or the fact George's last date was with Tansy a girl far from Zoe Hart but either way neither one could get comfortable.  
They covered the basics; His job, her job, his tour, her summer in New York before George's phone buzzed much to Zoe's relief.

'Sorry about this...' he moved away from the table as Zoe smiled a little, she liked how polite he was. Wade would have just answered it there and then.

As George took the call outside Zoe lifted her head and tilted it slightly to the left to discover Wade leaning his weight on the bar and staring in her direction. He had a look on his face she had never seen before; it was almost as if he had a look of regret and a hint of jealousy. Could it be that Wade was regretting his recent actions? Could it be that the sight of Zoe and George was slowly killing him? She wanted to know so badly.

'Zoe...' George said as he approached the table, Zoe quit her stare-date with Wade and looked up at him.

'Yeah.'

'I am so sorry to do this but that was my client in Mobile and something urgent has come up and-'

'Hey don't worry about me, go and deal with whatever it is you need to deal with.'

George looked over at Wade and sighed he knew this night was a massive flop and maybe if they had been a year maybe a few months earlier it would have been great but neither of them those people anymore, they had moved on.

'It's not too late you know.'

'What?' Zoe asked, she had made her way through most of the bottle of wine but still, that was a bit out of tune for their evening.

'Wade. It's not too late to fix whatever you guys did to have him sitting there looking like that and you on a date with me, if you could even call it that.'

'George when I asked you out again I meant it I did but….'

'You love him… and we're just friends.'

'Yeah.'

George nodded.

'I am really sorry George, you and I look brilliant together on paper but in reality, we're not.'

'It's okay…. But if he hurts you again I'll do the punchin' not Tansy!'

Zoe laughed a little which caused Wade's stomach to stir, to him it appeared the date was going well and he hated it. All night he had kept an eye on them hoping for a miracle, something to pull them apart and his miracle just so happened to be George's client in Mobile.

George could only mimic a smile as he dug his hands deep in his pockets, he rooted around for money to foot the bill but Zoe insisted on paying given the direction the date had gone in no thanks to her.

Wade tried to act cool once he noticed the goings on at the table and kept himself busy by chatting with Lavon and Wanda before Zoe's lonely presence got too much for him and he decided to walk over to her, with caution of course.

'Hey Doc…'

Zoe looked up to see him standing there with a sweet sparkle in his eyes she had to fight so hard not to stand up and kiss him 'George is just on the phone, he'll be right back.'

Wade smiled 'So that's why he paid for the meal and left? I don't know Doc either he has plans of whiskin' you outta here fairly fast or you just got stood up in an… odd fashion.'

Zoe dropped her shoulders and rolled her eyes 'Alright fine. He had to go to Mobile for work. So go on make your stupid jokes and laugh I don't care.'

Wade was a tad confused by that statement, did she actually think of all the emotions he had over her and George together that enjoyment or amusement would be one of them? He shook it off and although he could have continued the comedic root he chose to be sincere and pulled up a seat beside her.

'I'm not gonna make jokes Zoe. George said some work related thing came up but that-'Wade cleared his throat 'well you didn't really see things workin' out between y'all in the end.'

'I may have said something along those lines yes. What's it to you?'

'You maybe wanna stick around and we can talk after I close up?'

Zoe swore her heart sang actual melodies as she tried her best to contain her delight 'Yeah sure. I'd like that.' She gave him a soft smile before watching him stand up and make his way back to the bar.

For the rest of the night Wade deliberately kept himself away from Zoe who sat in the corner chatting with Annabeth and Cricket all while going through another bottle of wine- to calm her nerves.  
It appeared that the nerves got all too much for the petite doctor and when it came to closing time Wade found Zoe resting easy on her folded arms on the grubby table. Wade, who had been working since 8 that morning let out a long sigh before nudging her gently but she never stirred. He then scooped her up into his arms and carried her to his car before returning to lock up the bar.

It had been a long time since Wade had last carried Zoe into her house and admittedly he found the porch steps a struggle but only because he was so cautious of to not wake Zoe even though he was fairly sure she would have no memory of any of this in the morning. She looked so peaceful in his arms and he never wanted to let go of her but sadly her bed came into sight and he placed her down carefully before throwing a blanket over her curled up body.  
He didn't want to leave her, she looked so peaceful and he was almost certain she would have no objections to having him lay next to her. He leant down and kissed her forehead gently which sparked a reaction from her.

Zoe reached out her hand into mid-air as Wade stood alert.

'Why doesn't he love me anymore?' she mumbled from beneath her mop of hair.

Wade a bit taken aback by her confession moved closer to the bed and smiled 'Don't worry Doc; I'm sure if you torture him long enough Tucker will love ya.' He smiled to himself and at his little sarcastic line but he was the only one as Zoe shook her head childishly 'Not George, Wade. Why doesn't Wade love me anymore?'

Wade nearly lost his footing he knew she was tipsy but not so much that she didn't know who she was talking to but he was wrong, she had no idea who he was. He looked around the room and then down at Zoe. She looked so lonely and he hated that so without really thinking he kicked off his shoes and lay down beside her slowly throwing his arm over her waist and tugging her into him.

'He does love you Zoe he just needs to sort his head out. You both do.'

…

It was close to 4 when Zoe began to wake and to her surprise she wasn't alone in the bed. The first thing her eyes met was Wade's bare chest, her hand draped across it. She then noticed that she wasn't wearing the black dress she had started the night in, she was however wearing Wade's plaid shirt as she pulled at the sleeve and drew it to her nose as she took in the scent.  
Wade looked down at her, he noticed she was awake but waited for her to look up before doing anything.

'What time is it?' Zoe asked groggy and half asleep suddenly becoming very aware of the pain in her head.

'Like half 4.' Wade shifted around making his bare chest more noticeable as Zoe's eyes bulged and she began to wriggle but never let go of her grip of his chest.

'Oh god we didn't…you know?'

Wade scoffed but couldn't help but smile 'No. You vomited all over your clothes and I didn't know what else to put you in….'

Zoe nodded slowly as Wade felt her hair against his chest 'Thank you.'

'I was gonna go but I wanted to make sure that you were okay.'

'I'm glad you stayed…' she spoke with such sincerity as their eyes locked. Wade cleared his throat and tightened his grip around her body. He knew now was the perfect opportunity for them to talk and even though she was slightly intoxicated he still felt now was the time when they could lay everything on the table and just talk.

'What was tonight Zoe? Was it a real date or was it just a stupid game?'

Zoe a bit stunned by his bluntness paused, honestly she wasn't sure but Wade deserved her honesty 'I don't know what it was. It was stupid I guess.'

'Do you still love him?'

Zoe scoffed 'I never loved him Wade, ever.'

'So what you told him that caused Tansy to leave it was all just..?'

'I was so lost after what happened between us that I chased after him because he was happy and I was not.'

'Cause of me?'

'Because of everything.' She looked up at him 'I realised over the summer putting all the blame on you wasn't fair. I wasn't exactly an angel either aka Halloween, our picnic, battle of the bands just all of it…. You may have cheated Wade but I was screwing you around just as bad.'

'I hate myself for everythin' that happened I will always hate myself.'

Zoe raised herself up just a bit; too stress just how bothered she was by what he had just said. She moved her hand up and rested it against his cheek, it was warm which showed he was nervous.'I don't ever want you to say those words ever again. I never, ever hated you Wade. How could I….? I love you.'

Wade's eyes nearly fell out of his head but his grip around her waist never faltered. He looked into her eyes and saw the man he wanted to be, for her and the man he would vow to be if she would give him another chance.

'I love you too.'

Zoe let out a sigh of relief as she knocked her forehead against his chest. She took in his scent and let him hold her. 3rd times a charm she thought to herself as she snuggled back down into his body.

'How's your head?'

Zoe groaned 'Oh god you probably think I'm this raving alcoholic.'

'Nah… I know it!' Zoe gasped and smacked his chest 'Jerk!'

Wade laughed as he tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and ushered her back into him 'I'm just playin' Doc but seriously are you okay because I don't want mornin' to come and you have no recollection of this.'

Zoe smiled to herself; she was never going to forget this night that she was sure of. 'You mean that this night has the chances of not ending in a fight or the appearance of certain brunettes?'

'I only got eyes for one brunette.'

Zoe scrunched up her nose and smiled as she noticed the moonlight shining in; she could hear Wade's soft breathing in the background as he waited patiently taking in her every movement 'I want to try again Wade, give this a real shot but there is always this thing between us, like a roadblock or something. We never seem to be on the same page and when we are we screw it up.'

'Okay yeah our communication sucks I know that but I also know that we can work through it…if you want to?'

'Of course I want to. You have no idea how much I want to.'

Wade stroked her back as he was starting to feel a bit cold but he was much too Southern to ask her for his shirt back besides it looked better on her than it did on him.

Wade took her hand in his and tangled their fingers together 'I want a future with you Zoe Hart I don't want to play games anymore. '

'I want that too..' she whispered as she fought back the tears 'I want that more than anything.'

'So what do we do?'

Zoe took a deep long drawn out breath 'We take it slow, real slow and we do adult things like talk and communicate…' Wade started to laugh as Zoe brightened up a bit '…and actually address our problems not run away from them.'

Wade smiled down at her. He could hardly believe it, it was actually happening. Zoe was back, his Zoe and he was going to fight like hell to never lose her again.

'So if we're takin' it slow, do you want me to go?'

Zoe shook her head, she wasn't expecting that. 'Mmm well we're not going to take it _that _slow!'

'Thank God, come here.' He pulled her right into him and kissed the top of her head it smelt like a mixture of chestnuts, vodka and vomit but he didn't care because he finally had her and they were finally back to where they were both meant to be but the question was, how long will it last…..?

**So yeah, I promised Thursday and its Thursday! Hoped you enjoy and please let me know what you liked and didn't like! Thanks a million (: x**


	6. Chapter 6

**Sorta fluffy I guess. Thanks a million for the feedback. Hope you enjoy (:**

…

'No…no…no…no…yes!'

'Not a chance in hell.'

'Wade please, you love Sex in the City!'

'No I don't, you do.'

'Okay fine but you love me….'

Wade sighed 'How much longer are you gonna roll that one out?'

'For as long as it works.' Zoe said with a sweet smile as Wade gave in and handed her the remote. He threw his arm back around her waist as they both lay there stretched out on the bed with the brightness of the TV screen providing the only source of light within the room.

'What time is it?'

'Like 8….'

'You wanna go get something to eat?'

Wade looked around the room before placing his hand on Zoe's upper thigh 'Or we could do this…' he reached in and pressed his lips against hers, taking her completely by surprise. Zoe smiled as she let the remote out of her grip and moved her hands up along his chest before resting them on the back of his neck. Wade slowly raised himself up as her legs dropped and before they knew it Zoe was lying flat on her back and Wade was on top showering her neck in kisses.  
Zoe could feel his hands move up along her back and under her shirt as he tugged lightly at her bra that was when Zoe pushed him away.

'Nope.'

'Aw Doc come on…' he tugged at her again, coaxing her back down into the warmth of his body. Zoe slid back into him, giving him the benefit of the doubt but it wasn't long before Zoe found herself back at square one, this time minus her shirt, but she had to stop it, and fast.

'No Wade stop, come on.' She pushed him away again.

Wade looked around in confusion. They had been back together for a week now and they still hadn't had sex which was becoming increasingly frustrating for Wade who had been forced to sleep beside her but nothing more. Any make-out session was quickly shut down the minute Wade ran his hand up her leg. He had tried to keep an open mind about it, that they were taking it slow but he loved being with Zoe, more than anything.

'What..?'

'Look I just don't feel like-'

Wade knocked his head against the bed 'Yeah yeah takin' it slow. I get it.'

Zoe didn't exactly appreciate his tone as she lay back down beside him 'There's no need to be a grump.'

'I ain't bein' a grump Doc I just wanna spend some time with you!'

'And we are spending time together!'

'Not like that Zoe. You know what I mean…'

'Sex.' She said bluntly.

'Yeah, is that such a bad thing?'

'No, no it's not.'

'Then what is it?'

'It's-'Zoe looked him right in the eyes, all she had to do was be honest with him but she just couldn't. Not right now anyway 'It's just that. Well I'm on my period and if we you know…it may result in-'

'Oh wow hey no need to tell me Doc I know what can happen, trust me. Don't worry 'bout it, you could just told me that from the start though.' Zoe let out a small sigh of relief, he seemed to have bought her lie and she felt awful about it.

'Your right I'm sorry I shouldn't have kept it from you.'

'It's alright, I'm cool with a full on make-out session.'

'Really?'

'Yeah. Come here.' He turned her into him and pressed his lips against hers as she smiled just a little before he pulled away 'So this weekend? I can finally show you a good time?'

Zoe let out an honest laugh despite her conscience, she didn't know why she agreed but she figured when the time came she would muster up another excuse for not being intimate with him again.

…

Wade scratched his head with confusion as he scanned through the log books whilst sitting at the bar. Something just didn't add up literally as he turned in Lemon's direction to question the numbers when Zoe appeared up behind him, seen as they were keeping their rekindled romance on the down low she only ran her hand across his back as she took a seat beside him.

'Hi.' She said smiling as Wade quickly closed the books before she could get a proper look at what was in front of him.

'Hey. What are you doin' here?' he said nervously as he stood up and returned to behind the bar.

'Well it's lunch and I thought maybe you'd be interested in making one of those legendary Rammer Jammer cheeseburgers and fries for your girlfriend..'

Wade smiled as he leaned over the counter 'Mmm well that depends on what she is willin' to do to repay me'

'Well I guess you're just going to have to serve her and find out…'

Wade smiled and nodded as he slyly reached out and slid the log book towards him.

'What's that?' Zoe asked as the black ledger caught her eye.

'Nothin' for you to worry 'bout.' He threw the ledger under the counter and smiled 'so listen I was thinkin' maybe I could convince you to have dinner with me tonight, Lavon's out for the night so we would have the kitchen to ourselves and then maybe if things go to plan, I could cook you breakfast as well….?' He flashed her a cheeky grin and Zoe couldn't help but laugh, she had to give it to him, he had been patient more than patient in fact and by her count this was day 10 of her fake menstrual cycle and she didn't want to lie to him much longer so she decided to agree to the date and hope that by tonight when he begins to seduce her she would have magically overcome these feelings that have been eating away at her all summer.

'I would love that….the dinner and the breakfast.' Wade nodded and smiled as Lemon looked on from the end of the counter. She couldn't help but notice the smile plastered across both their faces and waited until Zoe's phone rang and went outside before going over to him.

'Wade.'

Wade was too busy watching Zoe leave to notice Lemon standing over his shoulder.

'Wade!'

Wade jumped at the second call of him name 'What?'

'I hope you weren't plannin' on givin' your girlfriend that meal for free…'

'What are you talkin' 'bout woman?'

'The fact that you and the Doctor are back together.'

Wade scoffed 'Where did you hear that?'

'Wade Kinsella are you seriously lyin' to my face? A week ago you two could not stand within 10 feet of each other and now you're makin' her lunch? Please Wade I am not that stupid. Plus I can smell the Chanel perfume off your clothes.'

Wade dropped his head and sighed 'Alright fine. Me and the Doc we are back together, but we're takin' it slow, keepin' it quiet.'

Lemon didn't quite know how to react; she wasn't exactly Zoe's number one fan but seeing the sparkle in Wade's eye was too much. He was finally happy, after a summer of grunts and growls and moaning he was finally that sweet charming Wade she grew up with.

'So if you two are back together why have you been here most nights? I thought you'd never leave that god awful gatehouse once you got her back.'

'Not that it is any of your business but we're not exactly doin' that.' he said shyly as Lemon grew curious, she never took Wade for the performance anxiety type 'Why not?' she asked bluntly ignoring every personal boundary there ever was.

Wade scoffed 'Well you know, she's a girl and girl's get those…things' he said uncomfortably 'period things so we're waitin' until its over so we can do that stuff again.' He must admit it felt good to finally tell someone, even if that someone was Lemon.

Lemon nearly lost her footing as those words left Wades mouth. She had never been the best at maths but she was a woman and she also knew Wade and Zoe had been back together for approximately 10 days and no woman's menstrual cycle lasted 10 days, not even Zoe Hart's. She shook her head and tried to brush off his comment but she cared about Wade and she didn't want Zoe to be doing something or hiding something that could potentially hurt him.

'Say Wade, how long have you guys been back together?'

'Bout a week and a bit. Why?'

'And she says she can't have sex because-'

'Because of that girl thing that we are not gonna talk 'bout!' He was really uncomfortable at this stage and was no longer interested in discussing his girlfriend's woman issues with his business partner. He left Lemon's side and moved into the kitchen where he threw some dirty dishes into the sink but unfortunately for him Lemon followed and stood there with her arms folded.

'Wade, a woman's menstrual cycle lasts between 4 to 7 days. Now either they are doin' somethin' different up in New York or Doctor Hart is hidin' somethin' from you. Which is it?'

Wade creased his brow and shook his head, why would Zoe lie? What would she have to lie about anyway? He looked at Lemon for a few minutes before Zoe appeared at the doorway.

'Wade.' She said sweetly as he swung around and put a pretend smile on his face while Lemon watched on with interest 'Yeah?'

'Brick needs me to cover for him so I'm going to have to pass on that burger.'

Lemon looked at Wade who tried to shrug off the stares 'Yeah don't worry 'bout it, me and Lemon gotta sort some things out anyway.'

'Are we still on for tonight?' Zoe said subtly but she still had a feeling Lemon knew about them.

'Uh yeah I guess.' He said coldly as Zoe could only nod, she watched Wade turn his back as Lemon gave her a sympathetic look and joined Wade in the corner.

….

'You've been really quiet tonight, is everything okay?'

'Yeah I'm fine its just Lemon- you know what never mind.'

'Okay.' Zoe nodded her head as she closed the pizza box and brought it to the trash as Wade followed her with some other rubbish. Zoe waited until Wade had wiped his hands before turning into him and placing her hands on his chest.

'Thanks for dinner.'

'Wasn't exactly a four course meal.'

'Would you stop? You have been acting weird since lunch come on please just- just be here with me please.'

Wade sighed as he un-crossed his arms and let Zoe kiss him 'Zoe…'

'Wade come on, whatever it is just forget about it please.' She took his hand in hers and guided him over to the bed 'Be here with me...' she whispered as she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed his cheek.

Wade tried to protest but the smell of that coconut shampoo and Chanel perfume was too much as he reached in and pressed his lips against hers. Slowly he ran his hands down her waist and rested them on her upper thigh, he was glad she had decided to wear those black shorts that just about covered her ass as he felt her warm skin on the pads of his fingers. As Wade lay her down gently on the bed he began to think maybe Lemon was wrong, maybe Zoe wasn't lying because her kisses and the movement of her hands told him she was ready to be with him and he wasn't about to complain. Zoe searched for the buckle on Wade's belt and tugged at it as Wade let out a little laugh, they hadn't been this close since before summer and it felt so good but for Zoe that little voice in the back of her head just would not go away.

The noise of the TV could still be heard in the background as Wade removed his shirt revealing his sun-kissed skin and ducked down and began to peck at her neck before she moved away just the slightest.

'Wade...' she said breaking through her heavy breathing as he looked down at her 'Yeah?'

'I lied to you about my- us having sex again.'

Wade sighed as he moved from over her and rested on his weight on his side. He kept his hand on her stomach as she played with his fingers.

'I know.' He admitted as Zoe looked at him with a sense of shock. She turned her head to the side as Wade looked at her with a tiny smile on his face.

'How?'

'Lemon.'

Zoe scoffed 'Lemon?' she didn't want to know what Lemon had said to Wade or how she figured it out but she felt awful, she hated lying to him.

'I'm sorry for lying to you.'

'It's okay.' He said as he rubbed her stomach 'You gonna tell me why you did it or…'

Zoe swallowed hard 'Every time we kiss or we do…stuff all I can see in my mind is her.'

'Who?'

'The girl you slept with.'

'Zoe…' Wade groaned as his land left her stomach and he dragged it across his face.

'And it's really hard to imagine her when I don't even know what she looks like' she cried 'What was her name?'

'I'm not doin' this.' He said as he sat up and searched for his shirt but Zoe wrapped her hand around his arm 'Wade please.'

Wade looked around to see her and her big brown eyes looking at them and suddenly the pain and heartbreak he put her through was rushing back, she looked desperate, desperate for answers for something to ease the pain in her heart and seen as they agreed to work through their issues rather than run from them he needed to be honest with her, she deserved that much.

'Claudette.' He said shamefully.

'Was she pretty?'

'No.'

'Wade!'

'She wasn't beautiful Zoe, not like you are.' Zoe smiled through the tears and pressed her head against his arm, she took a huge breath before considering her next question, she knew some things should be left in the past but she needed to know, to put her mind at ease 'What was she like? Was she good?'

'I'm not answerin' that.' he said flat out as Zoe shook her head 'Wade-'

'No Doc listen I will tell you a lot of things okay but I ain't never answerin' that question.'

'Why not!?'

'Cause it was just sex, it meant nothin'.'

'Does sex between us mean nothing?' Zoe asked him coldly as it shot through him like a bullet. He blinked as number of times ass Zoe waited for his answer.

'That night, was the darkest one I've had in a long time. It was there in front of me, everythin' I had ever dreamed of and you, you gave me that sign and I wanted to do it for you to really make you proud and I got scared and stupid Tucker was there bein' perfect and I just freaked. I'm never gonna be good enough, not compared to George anyway.'

'I've never put you against George Wade and you know what? If I did you would come out as winner every time.' She locked their hands together 'I thought we could just brush over that night, put it with the rest of our problems but we can't… Sometimes I feel like it was my fault.'

'Nothin' bout that night was your fault Zoe, it was all on me.' Zoe rubbed his hand to let him know she didn't blame him, she just wanted to know.

'That girl, she was nothin' to me and she meant nothin' to me but you…' he put his arm around her waist '…You mean everythin' to me and sex between us well, it's A+ stuff..!' Zoe started to laugh as she moved her hand up to his face and stroked his stubble '…it's not sex that I love; it's the person I have it with.' Zoe smiled as she bit her bottom lip before pulling Wade into her and pressing her lips against his 'I love you…'

'I love you too.'

There was silence for a few minutes as they both took in the conversation 'I guess this is the adult stuff we talked about huh?' Zoe said lightening the mood as Wade laughed.

'Yeah I guess so… and hey, whenever you're ready I'll be ready too. I promise.'

**Sorry it took so long I've been sick and busy but I get summer holidays soon so hopefully I will be able to update a bit more often. Please let me know what you thought and thanks again **


	7. Chapter 7

**A huge thanks to everyone who has reviewed and I hope you enjoy (:**

…..

Lavon and Annabeth watched on as Zoe placed another strawberry in Wade's mouth and giggled. She then reached into the bowl that was in the middle of her crossed legs as she sat on the counter and picked out another strawberry this time however instead placing it in her mouth causing Wade to protest and try pull it from her mouth as Lavon cringed. Neither Wade or Zoe noticed however as they continued giggling and messing around before Lavon couldn't take it anymore.

'Yo Romeo and Juliet. Y'all done? Cause we'd kinda like to eat our breakfast in peace.'

Wade rolled his eyes before turning around 'Mornin' to you too Lavon.' He turned back to Zoe who had uncrossed her legs but he still had his arms around her waist, he planted a small kiss on her nose as they both giggled hopelessly like pre-teens.

'I have to go to work.' Zoe said as their lips were pressed together.

'No you don't…' Wade groaned as he pushed his weight forward leaving Zoe laughing and Lavon gaging.

'Yes I do but I have an idea are you listening?' she said pulling away slightly but their noses still brushing together.

'Shoot.'

'Okay so I was thinking, this evening when you get off work we could maybe get all dressed up and go to Fancies?'

'By dressed up you mean?'

'Shirt and tie.'

'Tie? That is definitely gonna cost you.'

'Oh yeah…' Zoe whispered as she pulled his lips back onto hers.

Lavon and Annabeth suddenly gained interest in the conversation as Wade and Zoe turned around 'So does this mean you guys are done hidin' out?' Lavon asked.

Wade looked at Zoe who had a desperate look on her face 'I guess it does.' Zoe couldn't contain her excitement as she pulled Wade in for a hug 'As fun as it was sneaking around I can't wait to finally kiss you at work…' she kissed him lightly '…and in the town square…' she kissed him again as his hands travelled down her back '…and in the-'

'Lavon's kitchen? Oh but wait y'all already doin' that!' Lavon said interrupting their little moment as Annabeth chuckled. Zoe knocked her head against Wade's shoulder before finally deciding she could put work off no longer and got ready to go.

'I'll see you guys later.' She said in Annabeth and Lavon's direction as Wade followed her to the door 'And you.' She said as she tugged at Wade's collar 'I will see you at lunch and don't forget you promised to fix the loose porch tile and the bathroom light is acting all weird again.'

'I'm on my way to do it right now.'

'Good boy.'

Wade pricked his eyebrow 'Boy? I think you mean man.'

'Prove it.' She teased him as Lavon rolled his eyes.

'That's up to you ain't it.' He reminded her of their conversation a few nights back about whenever she was ready he would be too.

'It sure is…that's why I was thinking tonight, if the chores are completed to an acceptable standard and you wear that tie,you might get lucky…' her finger trailed off down his shirt as he shifted his weight and smiled 'Well in that case I actually will go do those jobs.'

Zoe laughed as she nodded 'Okay. I'll see you guys later.'

'Okay.' He kissed her lips gently 'I love you.'

'I love you too.'

Wade watched her walk down the path and out of sight before shutting the door and turning around to see Lavon and Annabeth sitting there with goofy grins on their faces.

'What?' he asked as he filled his mug with warm coffee.

'Oh nothin' just that you're totally whipped.' Lavon said into his paper as Annabeth hid behind her hand.

'I am not whipped. Why would you think that?'

'Meetin' up for lunch, doin' her housework, dressin' up for Fancies… Wade Kinsella you my friend are whipped.'

Wade took a seat beside them as he rolled his eyes 'It's called bein' a good boyfriend. I've put Zoe through enough the least I could do is fix the bathroom light. Besides it's just a light.'

'Okay so explain the tie.'

Wade opened his mouth but was cut off by Annabeth 'Oh Lavon leave him alone, I'm glad you guys are back on track Wade. It's good to see you smilin' again.'

'Thanks…look you guys I finally have Zoe back and I'm doin' it right this time I'm not lettin' her go again. Which is why I need your help?'

'What you mean?' Lavon asked.

Wade stood up and made his way to the door before turning back around 'Keep Zoe busy for the day, keep her away from me and the Rammer Jammer and tell her to meet me at the Gazebo at 7.'

Zoe thought she was having a nice dinner at Fancies but in reality she was going to turn up at the Gazebo and Wade was going to whisk her away to the romantic evening he had been planning for a week now. At a secret location looking out on the gulf he was going to have a candle-lit dinner prepared along with rose-petals and her favourite type of wine. He had tried his best to keep it from her and he couldn't wait to see her face when she saw what he had planned for her.

…..

'Hey Wanda, has Lemon been in yet today?' Wade asked as he flicked through some files behind the bar.

'Only to open up then she said she had some meetin' to go to.'

'Meetin'? What meetin'?'

'I'm not sure but she was actin' real weird about it. I figured you'd know more than me.'

Wade shook his head as he looked around the bar. For 3 weeks now Lemon had been acting more than weird, suspicious phone-calls, business meetings at all hours and for the first time ever she was bringing a briefcase to work that every now and then was being filled with receipts and other documents and whenever Wade asked her she told him to butt out and not to worry but lately he had a feeling he should be worried, very worried.

'Hey Wade…' Wanda called from the kitchen.

'Yeah?'

'The powers out.' She said flicking at the dishwasher switch as Wade joined her by trying out the kettle. He then moved over to the window to see the lights of the town in sight.

'Hey Frank.' He called over to Frank who was busy eating a plate of fries 'You got power over at the Dixie Stop?'

'Yeah…why?'

Wade shook his head and reached for his cell out of his pocket. 'You callin' Lemon?' Wanda asked as she watched Wade turn a slight shade of magenta.

'Nope. The power company. Gonna figure this out.' He walked outside in an attempt to calm his temper but it just got worse when the power company informed him the power had been switched off because they hadn't paid their bill after 3 final notices. Wade walked around in a huff for the rest of the day waiting for Lemon to show but she never did. He made the decision to close the Rammer Jammer telling people there was a problem with the power and they will be back to normal tomorrow. Once everyone had gone and Wanda took up residence in the kitchen Wade pulled out his phone once again this time calling Lemon and to his surprise she answered.

'_Wade now is not the best-'_

'Where the hell are you.'

'_Wade just listen-'_

'No you listen. I had to close the bar today because the power company cut us off, and when I went to pay it the money we have set aside for power was gone! What's goin' on Lemon?' there was so much anger in his voice as Wanda listened on.

'_Look Wade can we please just-'_

'No tell me now.'

'_I'll be back in a bit and then we can talk.'_

'Lemon!' it was too late though as she hung up before he could say anything else all he could do was kick the leg of the table in anger.

Wanda slowly moved out from behind the counter and took a seat beside Wade who had his head in his hands. Her and Wade had always been friends and she always felt like she could trust him and talk to him and right now he needed someone to be there for him.

'You know the scenario you have created in your mind is probably ten times worse than what's actually goin' on. I'm sure Lemon will have an explanation to all this.'

'I hope your right Wanda.' He said desperately as he lifted his head to face her 'You haven't noticed anythin' unusual have you?'

'Only Lemon.' Wanda joked as Wade laughed a little. Wanda put her hand on Wade's hand revealing her wedding band 'Everythin' is goin' to be fine.'

'I hope your right. You should go home, everyone else has.'

'Are you sure?'

'Yeah go home to Tom, plus I don't think you should be here when Lemon comes back…'

Wanda looked at him as he tried to convince her he was fine by grinning at her 'Okay fine, but at least let me go tell Zoe. I'm sure she'll cheer you up.'

Wade's eyes bulged from his head 'Oh god Zoe!' he shot up from his chair. He had completely forgotten about her and their plans 'What time is?'

'7:45… why?'

'Oh Wanda I'm a dead man.' Suddenly Lemon and the Rammer Jammer didn't seem so important as he darted across the bar and towards the door way. He had to at least explain to Zoe his screw up and told Wanda he would be back in ten minutes tops but he was stopped in his tracks when Lemon appeared in front of him.  
Wanda left as soon as Wade convinced her he wouldn't kill Lemon leaving them both standing at the bar with Wade looking for an explanation and Lemon looking for a way out.

'You gonna talk or we just gonna stand here?' Wade asked as Lemon sighed.

'Well you never were the chatty type.'

'Cut the crap Lemon. What happened today? With the power and the phone call? What's goin' on?'

Lemon drew a long breath as she leaned against the counter. She knew Wade was going to take this badly and so she took her time and composed her speech.

'I need you to stay calm okay but…a while ago after Gloriana came to play we were doin' really well and we had a bit more breathin' room so I made a few modifications, new floors fresh paint new sinks in the bathroom and some other stuff and we were doin' fine! But then the pipe in the kitchen burst and the window cracked and then all of a sudden we weren't fine!'

Wade's heart sank as he ran his hand across his face 'Jesus Lemon…'

Lemon winced 'So I went to pay the repair man with the credit card but it was maxed out so I went to the bank but the account was…low. So I got a loan.'

Wade looked at her sideways, maybe Wanda was right maybe it wasn't as bad as he had imagined. Sure he was pissed that Lemon lied to him but getting a loan wasn't the worst thing.

'Okay so you got a loan off the bank, I mean I ain't happy that you lied to me but I was expectin' worse.'

Lemon shook her 'Wade you never let me finish. I didn't get a loan per say more like…borrowed.'

'You borrowed money? Off your dad?'

'No…'

'Off who-'

'Wade-'

'Who did you borrow the money from Lemon?'

'Don't freak out but...' she paused 'I borrowed the money from Roger Fisher.'

Wade's face dropped 'Roger Fisher? As in the closet thing Bluebell has to a criminal. That Roger Fisher?'

Lemon could only nod as Wade scoffed with anger 'Jesus Christ Lemon ! That guy is trouble! Why didn't you tell me?'

'Because you were too busy mopin' around over Doctor Hart.'

'Do not bring Zoe into this. This all your doin' Lemon. God how could you!'

'Because you weren't there Wade! I needed you and you weren't there so yes I was desperate but we had bills to pay. So yes blame me for goin' to Roger but I only did it because you dropped the ball.'

Wade sighed and looked at her, maybe a part of what she was saying was right. He hadn't been around much lately when he was his head was somewhere else but he could tell by the look on her face that they were in trouble, big trouble.

'How much?' he asked quietly as Lemon didn't respond 'Lemon how much?'

'8 grand.'

'8 grand? Lemon….' He wanted to hit something but he needed to keep calm. He reckoned between them and maybe help from Brick they could pay it off.

'Okay alright let's not freak out. I think I have some money and you probably-'

'Wade stop there's more. I got the money, to pay him back but when I went to pay him today he said the price had gone up to 12 grand and that if we didn't pay by Friday he was goin' to make us pay and not in the money sort of way.'

Wade nearly got sick. How could he have left things get this bad 'Okay well uh…what did he say exactly?'

'That there was a bigger debt to settle and he wasn't goin' to stop until he got all he deserved.' She spoke with a sense of fear as Wade began to pace the floor.

'What do you mean bigger debt? Oh god, Lemon please don't tell me you pissed him off with one of your Belle manifestos!'

'Not me Wade, you.'

'What?'

'He said he has a bigger debt to settle with you.'

…..

'Am I fired as your boyfriend?' Wade asked from the door of Zoe's bedroom with a bag in his hand and puppy dog eyes.

'Depends' Zoe said as she climbed off the bed 'What's in the bag?'

'It's a present.'

'For me?'

'Of course.' He handed her the bag as he walked into the room and began removing his shirt leaving him in his white tank top. Zoe reached into the bag and pulled out a bottle of pinot, a box of chocolate and a small gold locket. Zoe smiled as she took the locket out of the box as she took a seat beside Wade on the bed. Tears filled her eyes as she examined the tiny detail of the locket. It was circular with a heart engraved on the side and on the inside had two names engraved; Zoe on the left and Wade on the right.

'Wade…' she barely got the words out she was so overjoyed as her throat closed up and her eyes became misty.

'Just a little somethin' to say I love you and that you are the best and sexiest girlfriend ever.' He curled his hand around her waist and kissed her 'I'm sorry for missin' dinner.'

'Wade it was just dinner at Fancies. Nothing to break up over!'

'No…it wasn't just Fancies. I had somethin' special planned and I ruined it.'

'It's okay.' She said sweetly as she rested her hands on his chest 'I ran into Wanda and she said you were at the Rammer Jammer and that I was to take extra special care of you tonight.' She laughed lightly 'Is everything okay?'

Wade looked her in the eyes he loved her so much he never wanted to see anything bad happen to her and he never wanted to put her through anything dangerous and he especially never wanted to lie to her but sometimes you lie to protect the people you love… 'Yeah everythin' is fine. Lemon was off gettin' her nails done and missed her shift. I was a bit pissed off, that's probably what Wanda meant.'

'Okay good. Although I was looking forward to cheering you up…'

Wade smiled as Zoe bit her bottom lip 'Oh really?'

Zoe nodded her head as she wrapped her hands around his neck and lifted her legs across his lap. Wade slowly lowered himself down onto the bed keeping their bodies glued together. Zoe ran her hand down his body and onto his belt buckle; she tugged at it lightly as Wade smiled. He felt comfortable enough to run his hand up her back and hook under her bra strap. He had to stop himself but to his surprise Zoe moved his hand back up and gave him a smile of approval.

'Zoe…' he said pulling away just a bit.

'Yeah?'

'Promise me that whatever happens we'll always have each other. That no matter what we go through or crap that comes at us, we'll be okay.'

Zoe ran her hand up and down the side of Wade's face 'I promise.'

'I love you.'

'I love you too.'

…

**So yeah a few tough chapters on the way but nevertheless I hope you enjoy ! Please please review and thanks again **


	8. Chapter 8

**Please don't hate me too much! And thanks to everyone who has reviewed.**

…..

Zoe played with the gold locket in her hand as she nestled into Wade's bare chest. She could feel the heat of his body against hers as she listened to him sleep, he sounded so peaceful even though she knew something was bothering him. She drew invisible circles on his chest with her index finger as he breathed in and out. Every now and then his breathing pattern would change causing him to flutter or his leg to twitch. Zoe didn't want to wake him; he looked so comfy but unfortunately for them the real world still existed outside her carriage house and so did their jobs.

'Morning sleepy head.' Zoe said as Wade began to stir. He looked around the room as he wiped the sleep from the corner of his eye. He then looked down to see a half-naked Zoe draped across his chest and suddenly the memories of last night came back to him, how much he loved her and how amazing she was, in every way.

'Mornin'…' he kissed the top of her head lightly as he got the scent of coconut from her 'You up long?'

'Not really, just been lying here thinking.'

'Bout what?'

'Just stuff. Work, Brick, Last night.'

Wade cocked his head 'Did you just say Brick and last night in the same sentence cause if so we have a serious problem!' he laughed a little as Zoe hit him playfully on the chest.

'Jerk. I meant that Brick, he wants me to work this weekend so he can go away with Shelby but it's my weekend off and I was thinking maybe you and I could go away somewhere, just us.'

Wade liked the idea of that 'and last night?'

'Was amazing. I'm glad we waited.'

'Yeah waited 3 weeks, you couldn't even go a month without A+ sex!' Zoe scoffed as Wade laughed 'I can't blame ya Doc I know how sexy I can be! It ain't your fault.'

'I would survive just fine without you and your "sexiness".'

'If you say so…' he said as he squeezed tightly around her waist 'You wouldn't last 5 minutes.'

'Whatever you say...' she said half-heartedly too happy and calm to bicker with him playfully of course. Instead she nuzzled into his chest and tried to persuade him resume to the calm mood they had going all morning she was out of luck though because just as she was about to surprise him with a kiss the alarm clock sounded and Wade was unusually quick to move which Zoe found unsettling.

'Uh I better go. I'm late enough as it is.'

'Be a few minutes late you're allowed to, you do own the place remember.' She said as she pushed him back down onto the bed. She ran her finger down his chest as he sighed endlessly.

'As amazin' as it sounds to just lie here with you for the day I gotta go. Lemon's waitin' for me.' As he uttered the words it hit him he had a huge mess to try and clean up today and something told him it wasn't going to be easy. He looked down at Zoe with a sad expression, a part of him knew that she was fully aware he wasn't telling her the full truth but he couldn't tell her, it was too dangerous.

'Wade whatever happened between you and Lemon you should fix it because the Rammer Jammer is important to both you guys and you love it so please, talk to her and figure this whole thing out.'

Wade looked at her and smiled, if only she knew. He watched as she played with the locket around her neck.

'You like it?'

Zoe looked up at him and smiled 'I love it. Thank you.'

…

'What took you so long? I've been here alone for an hour. ' Lemon whispered as Wade came through the door of the Rammer Jammer.

'I was with Zoe.'

'Oh great, a loan shark is after us and you spend time with Doctor New York.'

Wade rolled his eyes and hissed 'Look Lemon you better drop the attitude. I had to lie to her about where I was last night and I don't like lyin' to her and for the record the loan shark is after you, not me.' He shut the door behind him as they both stood in the empty bar. The shutters were closed as Wade made sure nobody was around before taking a seat at one of the tables.

'Well we're partners Wade so he's after both of us.'

Wade let out a long sigh, Lemon was right and a part of him was feeling mightily guilty that he had sort of abandoned ship over the summer but never in a million years did he expect to coming up against something like this.

'So what's the plan? How are we goin' to fix this?' Lemon asked desperately.

'I don't know.'

'Wade! He wants 12 grand tonight! Where are goin' to get 12 grand?'

Wade clenched his teeth as he thought 'Wait you said Friday?'

Lemon laughed nervously 'I may have tinted a few details to keep you calm.' Wade dug his fingernails into the table, he needed to stay calm because he could tell Lemon was scared and no matter how much he wanted to kill her right now he needed to see the bigger picture and keep his temper.

'Alright here's the plan is, you stay here in town and I'll go sort this thing out with Roger. Lord knows this has been goin' on long enough…'

Wade had left the bar before Lemon had a chance to stop him and the sound of his car engine sent shivers down her back, she knew Wade and she knew Roger and she knew the history between them so she called the one person she knew would be able to help.

Wade took a long breath before getting out of his car, he cut the engine off early and decided it was better to walk the rest of the way. It had been a long time since he had walked this road and yet it still felt the same, the crunch of the gravel under his feet and the snapping of twigs brought back so many memories mostly bad but some good. The house still looked the same, run down and scary, the wraparound porch and overgrown shrubbery stood out along with the chipped paint and cracked shutters. It all seemed too familiar as he took the long walk up the drive or rather cutting across the burnt grass and dead flower beds. He climbed up the porch steps as he heard the noise of the TV from inside the house. He pulled open the porch door and rapped his knuckles against the oak door, after that all her could do was wait. It was about a minute before he heard movement from inside the house and then the noise of boots against wood before the search for keys and then the door opened.  
Wade's mother never liked Roger Fisher from the earliest age he was bad news. If he wasn't out hunting or skinning animals with his ass of a father he was tearing through town in a 1970 Ford Truck with the music blaring and beer flowing. Wade, being the good natured kid he was always gave him the benefit of the doubt and spent a lot of his days with Roger be it fishing or throwing the football, they were good friends but as they grew up Roger urged Wade to try new things and seen as Earl had no regard as to what his young son was up to and Jesse was gone, Wade was free to do whatever he pleased which meant drinking down at the creeks and chasing every girl in town. It all changed when they were 16 however when Wade told Roger he was interested in taking Charlotte Brown to the junior prom, he really liked her and was determined to prove her father wrong he even bought a shirt and tie and a fresh bouquet of flowers but when he turned up at her house to ask her he discovered her and Roger fooling around in her tree house. Wade was heart-broken and determined to get revenge.  
His plan was to bring Roger out hunting like they always did, this time however once Wade had gotten Roger far enough into the wilderness he was going to let it all out, throw a few punches and maybe a kick or two and be done with it but it didn't go quite to plan as when the two boys were walking through the back roads both with shot guns in their hands the subject of Charlotte came up sooner than expected. Wade tackled Roger to the ground, knocking the shot gun out of his grip, each punch was filled with rage and anger some directed at Roger but mostly at his mom for dying and Earl for turning into a drunk and Jesse for leaving. Wade was so angry that he just couldn't stop, that was until Roger built up his strength and began to fight back completely unaware of the shot gun slung across Wade's body. As the two boys got to their feet Roger charged at Wade, tackling him to the ground again more importantly setting off the safety on the gun. It was as if time stood still luckily for Wade the gun was angled away from his head. Instead the bullet fired 10 feet the other direction and through Mr Devoy's front window. Both Wade and Roger looked at each other in shock as the glass shattered and the dogs barked. Mr Devoy came running out from his backyard as Wade bolted leaving Roger with a gun at his feet and no excuse.  
Roger was given 2 years in a juvenile detention centre before getting out to a life of drink and drugs. Wade never saw him around much after that as he mainly spent his time cooped up in his house or in Daphne where he fell in with the wrong crowd. Wade's life became fairly hectic after that, with Tansy and Earl and then Zoe that he never really addressed the scarring day but he thought about it all the time, he was too ashamed to tell Zoe and the fear that it or Roger would come up in one of her conversations with Lavon or George or Annabeth was too much for him. The way he saw it was he had a chance to bolt and he took it, Roger could have ratted him out and brought him down with him but he didn't so Wade got on with his life, as much as he could.

Wade couldn't believe how much Roger had changed he had always been an athletic guy, fit with a full head of black hair but now stood a man with a scruffy beard, a receding hair line and a beer belly. Wearing a black t-shirt and ripped jeans with work boots Roger stood there taking in every detail of Wade's well-toned body and sun kissed skin.

'Well well look who the cat dragged in…' he mumbled in that husky voice he had had since he was a boy, he held a bottle of beer in one hand 'Never thought I'd see the day young Kinsella would come crawlin' back here.'

Wade looked down at his feet as he dug his hands deep into his pocket.

'How been Kinsella. Business good?' he teased as Wade dropped his shoulders.

'I ain't here to chat Roger you know that.'

'You know I heard 'bout Tucker and Lemon breakin' up I gotta say I always had a thing for that girl, fine set of legs. How she doin' anyway?'

'You know exactly how she's doin'. That's why I'm here. Don't play dumb.'

Roger laughed an evil laugh as he stepped away from the door letting it snap shut behind him.

'Let me guess you found out 'bout our little meetin' and you're here to tell me to back off. Am I right?'

'No, I'm here to tell you that I didn't know Lemon borrowed the money and that if you wanted to find a way to get me back goin' after Lemon was the wrong thing to do.'

'Now come on man I never went to Lemon, she came to me, said you guys were in need of some cash and that word on the street was that I am a generous guy and would be willin' to help out an old friend.. But of course you already knew that didn't ya Wade.'

Wade clenched his fists as Rogers's words spat out like venom 'Leave Lemon alone.'

'What about my money Kinsella? History or not I still want my money.'

'I'm gonna get you the original 8 grand by next week.'

'Nawh man the deal was 12 grand by tonight if not it goes up to 15.' He peered up at the sun 'and by my count you got about 6 hours before you finally get what you deserve.'

'It all goes back to that huh.'

'Look man I want my money and you better find a way to get it.'

Wade tried to keep a poker face and show that he wasn't crumbling on the side as Roger moved closer to him 'What do you love Kinsella?' he asked in an inquisitive tone.

'What do you mean?' Wade asked backing away.

'I mean what's good with you. I mean I know Earl is busy climbin' the hardware store and Jesse is off bein' G.I Joe so what you been doin'? I mean other than runnin' one of Bluebells oldest establishments in the ground.'

Wade brushed off Rogers comment with a sarcastic smile 'I'm doin' fine man how 'bout you?'

Roger stretched out against the porch railing 'Well you know got a few jobs goin' nothin' much. Rumour has it your pretty cosy with that new Doctor now that is a fine piece of ass.'

Wade crossed his arms to restrain himself from hitting Roger and that was when it hit Roger, Wade's weak spot was the leggy Doctor from New York and suddenly his original plan of torturing Lemon was gone out the window.

'Yeah uh, my uncle went to her not so long ago to pull a deep splinter he said she was real fine, good hands' he chuckled as Wade winced 'But I'm sure you know all 'bout that huh buddy.'

His vicious laugh ran through Wade's veins like blood as he tried his hardest to keep calm.

'You know who else had good hands….Charlotte.' he said laughing and that was the final straw as Wade charged at him, pushing him up against the wall, with one arm across Rogers chest and the other in a clenched fist by Rogers head.

'You listen to me you useless piece of crap you stay away from my bar, you stay away from Lemon now I'll get you your 8 grand I can promise you that but so help me god you come as close as one foot near Zoe Hart and I guarantee you it will be the last thing you ever do you hear me?' he punched the wall as he taunted Roger as the sweat rolled down the side of his face. Roger gave him a dangerous smile as Wade backed away and slowly made his way down the porch steps.

'Watch what you love Kinsella!' Roger roared after him 'Watch what you love!'

…

'Hey Zoe...' George called out as he entered the practice. Zoe strolled out with a cup of coffee in her as she smiled 'George. What are you doing here?'

'Well I was wonderin' if you had some down time, to talk.'

Zoe raised her eyebrow; she looked around the empty practice. She had all the time in the world, it was 6pm and she had spent the day internet shopping and looking up ideal vacation spots for her and Wade.

'This is Bluebell George I have all the down time in the world! What's up?'

George laughed nervously 'That is very true, a change from the summer huh?'

'Just a bit. Is everything okay?'

'Yeah no everythin' is fine I was just wonderin' if we could talk.'

Zoe looked around 'Okay….' She led him into her office and shut the door behind her as George took a seat. He waited until she was settled in her chair before he smiled.

'Hey.' He said nervously.

'George can I get you some water you seem a little shaky.'

'No no I'm fine.'

'Okay…' they sat in silence looking at each other as George tried to find the right words and Zoe tried to figure out what the hell was going on.

'Look Zoe.' George said clearing his throat 'I know you and I have been well you know…and Wade-'

'Okay look George if this is some plan to win me over I'm just going to stop you right here because I am really happy with Wade and we are doing really good.'

'Whoa hang on a second there Doctor Hart I am not here for that at all! Lemon came to talk to me-'

'Oh is this about the falling out her and Wade had over her being late for work? Because I am trying to stay out of it.'

'Being late for work?'

'Yeah Wade came home last night in a mood because he said Lemon was off getting her nails done and missed her shift. But come on its Lemon and Wade, they were bound to lock horns eventually, I think this will blow over.'

George smiled at his shoes, when Lemon called to his office this morning to explain the dilemma her and Wade were in he at least thought Wade would have told Zoe the full extent.

'That's a nice locket you got there.' George said pointing at Wade's locket around her neck.

'Thanks it was a gift from Wade.'

'It's like the one his mom used to have…' George said as he took a trip down memory lane. Zoe looked down at her chest as she played with the locket and smiled. 'Does he talk often about his past?'

Zoe shrugged her shoulders 'I guess, when he's pissed off at Earl or annoyed at Jesse he mutters stuff but not really, why?'

George sat forward, at first he adored the idea of coming in here and ratting on Wade and his antics to Zoe but as he watched her and how happy she looked he grew weak, maybe there was a reason Wade hadn't told her either way it wasn't his place at least not to rat on his friend.

'Zoe, Wade's really changin' he's a good guy and you're a part of that..' he smiled as he rose to his feet 'A relationship is two sides workin' together, through the good times and the bad so…keep an eye out alright.'

'Thanks George.' Zoe said sincerely as she watched George leave, she was fairly sure something was going on but she didn't really care. All she could think about was going home to Wade who had been more than quite today so she decided to call him.

'_Hello.__.__._' Wade panted from the end of the line.

'Hey it's me, what you doing?'

'_Oh you know just muckin' about_.' He joked '_You?_'

'Just finishing up here and I was wondering do you want to go to Mobile tonight have some dinner maybe catch a movie?'

Wade paused as he caught his breath, staying out of Bluebell was the best thing for them '_Yeah baby sounds great. Listen I'm just at Lavon's but I'__ll meet you __at__ the__ practice in about 15 minutes okay?'_

'No its okay, it's a nice night I think I may just walk home.'

'_No Zoe don't walk home, not tonight. Hang tight and I'll see you in a few minutes_.'

Okay now things were really getting weird she thought to herself, first George now Wade. 'Well if you insist.' Zoe said feeling awful proud that her boyfriend was so protective of her even if this was Bluebell.

'_I do and hey Doc_.'

'Yeah?'

'_I love you._'

Zoe smiled 'I love you too Wade, I'll see you in a bit.'

Zoe couldn't wipe the smile from her face as she began gathering up her things. For the first time ever it felt like her and Wade were finally over the hump of the summer and all that came before it and maybe now they could be that couple she dreamed of them being or maybe she was strung so high on cloud nine and she needed to be dragged back down to earth pronto.

She flicked off the light of her office and checked that the back door was locked and the coffee machine was off before grabbing her bag and making her way through the office checking the windows and doors making sure everything was closed up, anything to avoid an earful from Brick in the morning.  
There was a deafening silence as she locked up the front door, it always gave her trouble and she always struggled with it maybe she should have waited for Wade to come that way she could watch him get all flustered over the 80 year old door that was in desperate need of replacement. She was too busy in her own little world to notice the dark figure come up behind her.

'Excuse me ma'am...' the figure said in a husky tone. Zoe jumped at the low tone as she turned around, it was dark and the porch light was broken.

'God!' she said 'You scared me!' she didn't recognise the man, she had never seen him around town and his appearance didn't catch her eye as someone who involved himself in the town's madness.

'Apologies 'bout that.'

Zoe smiled she looked around 'Well I'm sorry to do this but unless your head is falling off or your dying I can't help you. Brick's on-call tonight. I can give him a ring if you want?'

'I ain't interested in Brick young lady.' He said quietly as his tone sat uneasy with Zoe who smiled nervously hoping Wade would appear soon.

'Well if Brick can't help you and I can't help you-' Zoe didn't have a chance to finish her sentence as the man's fist connected with her face and within seconds she was out cold. Now was the time for Wade to appear, the man who promised to be there for her whenever she needed him and she needed him right now. Now was the time for Wade to be her boyfriend but he was nowhere to be seen, nobody was….

.

.

.

.

**Dun dun dun dun…. Next update coming soon! Please review, thanks **** x**


	9. Chapter 9

**Sorry it took me so long to update, real life took over. Anyway please enjoy and review! Thanks (:**

…..

'Hey Wade! Wait up!' George called from down the street as Wade darted across the square.

'Can't talk Tucker I gotta meet Zoe.'

'Yeah that's what I need to talk you about.'

Wade stopped in his tracks and waited for George to catch up. Why did George need to talk to him about Zoe?

'Lemon came to see me this mornin'…Thought maybe we could talk.' Wade shook his head; of course George Tucker would try save the day. He put his hands on his hips and looked at the ground, he just wanted to get to Zoe but he also knew George wasn't going away.

'Look Tucker I know Lemon probably gave you some big freaky speech bout what's goin' on but I got it all under control so you don't need to get involved.'

'Under control like you told Zoe, that sort of under control?' George snapped at him as Wade looked at him wide-eyed.

'You talked to Zoe? When?' Wade asked suddenly feeling protective and extremely jealous.

'Like a 40 minutes ago.'

'Why would you do that?'

'More importantly why wouldn't you tell her?'

Wade clenched his fists, it had been a long day and the last thing he needed was George trying to act like the good guy in all of this. He really wanted to walk away and leave George to argue with his toenails but he was in the feisty mood so he was going to let George have it.

'No offence Tucker but this really is none of your business.'

'It kinda is.'

Wade's head nearly exploded, how did Golden Boy get to that conclusion? 'How? Cause the woman you left at the alter told you the boyfriend of the girl you left her for was off dealin' with a loan shark? Look I talked to Roger today and I got everythin' sorted out so back off.'

George looked at him blankly, when it was put like that it did sound sort of odd but he still cared for Zoe and for Lemon and he wasn't stupid enough to think that whatever Wade had done that day was calm and sensible and he was certainly not going to stand around and let Wade hurt his friends, history or not.

'Wade I know you and I know Roger and I know the things you two got up to-'

'Dammit Tucker!' Wade screamed 'It happened a long time ago and we have both moved on from it so can you please just back the hell off I have to go meet Zoe, I'm late enough as it is.'

George shuck his head as he kept his temper at a head 'If everythin' is fine then why you so antsy, why you in such a rush to be with Zoe?'

Wade stepped forward as he closed the distance between him and George, his face was serious and his eyes wide 'Cause she is my girl and we have plans.' He looked George up and down before walking away slowly. He wanted to punch George Tucker so badly in that moment, not just for butting into him and Lemons business but for walking around thinking he was god gift to earth. He was so focused on his anger towards George and the events of that day to notice the eerie silence around town, the first thing he noticed however was that the practice was in darkness which was weird considering Zoe was terrified of the dark and insisted on having the lamp on until she fell asleep. The next thing to catch Wade's attention was the door was closed shut, maybe she had decided to head home despite their prior arrangements. He paced up the path to discover the practice was closed and certainly had no sign of a particular New York Doctor.  
He reached into his pocket to discover his phone was at home charging so decided to head back home when something caught his eye on the ground, he bent down to discover that something was Zoe's locket, the latch had been ripped apart and the locket was scratched. In that moment Wade's heart stopped, he rose to his feet as his face turned a new shade of grey.

'George!' Wade screamed at the top of his lungs. George who had planned on spending the evening lounging on his boat with a beer and a game of Sudoku stepped as he heard Wade's cries despite his instincts screaming at him not to.  
Wade sprinted towards him with a worried look on his face and that was when George knew something was wrong.

'What's wrong?'

'Roger' Wade panted as he held out the locket 'He has Zoe.' He struggled to catch his breath as George fixed his eyes on the locket, he always knew Roger had a wild streak but never did he expect things to get this bad.

'Wade what are we gonna do?'

Wade paused as he looked George right in the eye 'Get your gun Tucker.'

…..

Zoe slammed her eyes shut; she hoped that if she kept them closed for long enough that when she opened them this nightmare would be over. The stench of liquor and burning wood mixed in with the thick cigar smoke had her head spinning, that and the fact the left side of her face was numb from a punch that she was fairly sure wouldn't be covered up with blusher.  
She wasn't in darkness, the light was feint but good enough for her to know she was in trouble. She looked down at her ankles to find a dirty rope keeping them together. She moved her head to the left to see a coffee table with a bottle of cider and a packet of cigarettes arranged neatly on top.

'Well well look who's finally come around…' a voice said from behind a raggy curtain. Zoe looked up to see her attacker leaning against the wall with a bottle of beer in his hand.

A tear trickled down Zoe's face as she tried to shield herself from his beady eyes and poisonous laugh.

'You gonna talk at all?' he pestered her as he took a seat across from her on a white fold-up chair. Zoe made no acknowledgment towards his comment as he continued to laugh to himself before breaking every few seconds to take a swig of beer.

'I'm sure your wonderin' what a little doll like you has done to land yourself here huh?'

Zoe nodded her head with fear.

'I remember hearin' mumbles of some sassy-ass Doctor comin' to town not too long ago and I said to myself Kinsella gonna tap that!' he laughed to himself as Zoe shuddered, of course Wade had some involvement in this as Todd Gainy Junior came to mind. Zoe tried her best to avoid eye contact but his presence was eerie.

'Wade ever talk 'bout me?'

Zoe pretended not to hear as she lowered her head but it only angered Roger as he sat forward 'I said does he ever talk 'bout me?'

'No.' Zoe whispered as she prayed for a miracle rescue mission.

'She speaks!' Roger said chuckling as Zoe started to cry a little bit more.

'Why am I here? I don't know you and I've done nothing to you. Can you please just let me go?' Zoe pleaded as Roger shuffled the chair closer to her, she could pick up the smell of body odour and generic beer off his breath.

'So Wade never talks 'bout me huh? That's weird considerin' we were joined at the hip for most of our school days. Well that was until the little bastard screwed me over...'

Zoe kept her head down as she tried to ignore his comment, she wasn't completely surprised that Wade had a past who didn't? '…But whatever it was a long time ago and ain't nobody in that backwards town talks 'bout it.'

'I don't know what Wade did but I'm sure he's really sorry and if it was a long time ago maybe you-'

'Long time ago? Wow he really doesn't tell you nothin' huh?' Zoe give a look of uncertainty as Roger smiled 'You friends with Lemon Breeland?'

'We won't be braining each other's hair anytime soon but we're okay…' she said as she slowly started to warm up to her company and decided it was better go along with his crap than let him torture her.

'You don't have many friends huh ? Or a very good boyfriend cause well if you did you would know your little boyfriend has been lyin' to you and so has Lemon.'

'Wade hasn't hidden anything from me.'

'You know why me and Wade stopped bein' pals?'

'I have a few ideas…'

Roger laughed as he moved closer to her, she was snappy and he liked that. 'See my family we are big hunters, spent all my days huntin' and fishin' and Wade too but Wade's dad was a hard ass and he was never let out much...' Zoe stared at her feet, she never took Earl for the rule-enforcement type but maybe that was Rogers point, maybe she didn't know as much about Wade's past as she thought. '…so one day Wade and me we went huntin' but at that stage Earl was too busy pissin' himself away to care, anyway we were walkin' down the road when we got in a fight, things got rough a shot was fired and well long story short Wade did the crime and I did the time.'

Zoe's head shot up, she was assuming by Rogers tone that Wade hadn't shot a deer or a tree but that didn't sound like Wade and she thought that after 3 years in Bluebell someone in would have mentioned such a scandalous thing like gunplay. She decided to play it cool and not to let Roger know it was bothering her.

'Look its none of my business-'

'True but Lemon and Wade are, well I mean they should be.'

'Wade and Lemon are business partners what happens between them is none of my business.'

'Well it is when they're in thousands of dollars in debt and your left payin' for it.'

Zoe squinted in disgust. He was just messing with her, Wade wouldn't lie to her about such a serious topic as debt especially not considering they were back together on condition things would be different. She decided to bury her face in her knees and sob as Roger laughed before taking another swig of beer and settling back into his chair.

…..

Wade peered into the gap between the shutter and the windowsill, the light was dull but he could still manage to see the top of Zoe's head. He sat back down resting his back against the cracked wood panelling. He looked over at George who was slowly turning a new shade of grey as he held a tight grip of his shotgun.

'I was right. He's got her.' Wade whispered as he sat on high alert of the front door to his left.

'Congratulations you were right now lets call Sheriff Bill.'

'Sheriff Bill? You mean the same Sheriff Bill who hid in his bathroom when Tom Long thought he found a bomb because he was scared?'

George had no response to that Wade was spot on, Sheriff Bill was hardly a chip off the NYPD block and would be no use in this situation besides Wade had that look in his eye saying he was on a mission and no one was going to stop him no matter how petrified George was.

'So what you gonna burst in there and shoot the guy?'

'No. You're gonna go in the back, create a distraction, I'll let Zoe out and then I'll shoot the guy.'

George shook his head, there were so many flaws in this plan and George had no problem in being Golden Boy in this moment because someone needed to be sensible and someone needed to talk Wade out of doing something he would end up regretting.

'Wade this is crazy please just-'

'Just what Tucker?!' Wade interrupted him 'We just gonna sit here and let that ass hurt Zoe? Cause I sure as hell ain't.'

'Wade the guy is nuts. Are you really tellin' me your gonna burst in there and kill him? Then what huh? You go to jail? Yeah that's real romantic Zoe is gonna love that one.'

'You mean just like she loves bein' held captive cause of me and your nut of an ex-fiancé?!' he began to roll up his sleeves as George let out a sigh of defeat 'I made a promise to Zoe I would always be there for her, that I would always protect her and right now that promise is pretty flawed but I can still keep it. Now are you gonna help me or not?'

George knocked his head back, a huge part of him wanted to run, to get as far away from this mess as possible but there was a small part of him, the small part that got him this far telling him he had to stay and help Wade.

'I'll stay…but if things go bad then I'm callin' Lavon.'

Wade nodded as he pulled himself onto his hunkers. He decided it was best to let George go around the back and go through the back door creating a diversion for Wade to come through the front and to get Zoe out. Both men who were armed with shotguns took a moment before George turned left and crept down the wraparound porch and Wade positioned himself down at the front door.

'Hey Tucker…' Wade whispered at George who jumped at the sound of his voice.

'Yeah?'

Wade looked at him with his mouth open, he wanted to say be careful but he couldn't bring himself to do it. George sensed what Wade was trying to say and smiled 'Yeah you too man…'

George crept along the side of the house with his hands held firmly on the gun. He was very cautious of his boots against the creaky wooden boards beneath him and took each step like it was his last. There were two sets of windows on the side of the house but luckily for George the shutters were closed to he walked past with ease. As he turned the corner the light of the kitchen burst through the porch door. He could hear movement and low voices which he presumed was Roger's as he took a long drawn out breath.

George had never really done anything wild in his life, not even as a teenager. The days Wade spent skipping school drinking stolen beer down at the creek George spent studying or reading or with his family. He was a responsible person, he knew the line between right and wrong and he knew to never get involved in anything that could lead to gunplay but now was he chance to shed the goody two shoes image and do something wild for once in his life.

The minute he walked in the door Roger reacted as did Zoe whose eyes widened, they were filled with fear and desperation.

'Oh my…' Roger said in a sarcastic tone 'Golden Boy Tucker. Bit late for you to be out I'd be thinkin' don't your momma usually be tuckin' you in at this stage?'

George smiled as his eyes scanned the room for any sign of movement from Wade.

'Still got that sense of humour I see.'

'Still dressin' like a fag I see.'

George scoffed as he raised his gun just a bit as Roger tensed. Zoe studied George's every move, it had been a long night but she was fairly sure this was not an attempt of declaration of love from George meaning Wade was around somewhere. She just had to wait and pray George knew what he was doing.

'What are you doin' here Tucker? Kinsella out hidin' in the bushes?'

'Wade isn't here. I came alone, I saw what happened at the practice and I followed you out here.'

'So you're trespassin'? Huh, this is probably the wildest thing you've ever done Tucker.'

'Its not trespassin' when you're kindnappin' the town doctor.' He said sternly.

'Look no offense this is between me and Kinsella, this is his problem. So why don't you tell him stop bein' such a bitch and be a man for once!'

'You're the bitch.' A voice said from behind as Roger swung around to see Wade standing there in front of Zoe, he deliberately shielded her with his legs as he held the shotgun across his body.

Roger laughed and evil laugh 'I see you not forgot how to hold a gun huh Kinsella.'

'You got a stellar memory there Roger.' George snapped as he and Wade stared at each other.

Roger nodded sarcastically.

'Yeah which is good cause that means he'll remember just how good an aim I got.' Wade said as he let off the safety on his gun causing Roger to step back.

'You don't got the balls.'

'You hurt the person I love most in this world and that means you're gonna pay.' Zoe looked up at Wade as those words breezed out of his mouth, she could only see the back of his body but she could tell by the expression on George's face that Wade was serious.

'This is pretty funny when you think about it…' Roger said taking a swig of his beer before pointing his grubby finger in George's direction 'Your ex fiancé is the reason his girlfriend is tied up, the same girlfriend who claimed to love you first. Mmm interestin' isn't it?'

George winced 'You don't know what you're talking about Roger. Just let Zoe go alright then you guys can sort it out.'

'Put down the gun.' Roger ordered.

'No.' Wade snapped.

'Put down the gun you too George and then I'll let her free.'

Wade looked at George, neither men were sure whether or not trust him, whats to say he wouldn't turn around and knock them both out but all Wade cared about was Zoe's safety and if him putting down the gun meant she would be safe then he would do it, its not like he was going to use it anyway. He slowly nodded to George as he reluctantly placed the gun on the ground and watched as George placed his on the table even though they both knew George's gun only had one bullet in it. Roger looked at George and then back at Wade both men raised their hands in the air to prove their empty handedness.

'Alright…' Roger sighed 'You can let her go, but we are not done.'

George blew out a sigh of relief as Wade turned to Zoe and dropped to his knees. The first thing he noticed was the purple bruise taking over her face, that along with the smudged mascara and running tears made her face look far from the happy bubbly Zoe he was used to seeing. He placed his hand against her cheek and cupped her face in it, she was warm and sweaty.

'I got you okay I promise.'

Zoe was too traumatized to respond as she shook her head shakily. Wade could feel Roger looking over his should as he tugged at the rope tying her skinny legs together. It wasn't the toughest of rope and he pulled it apart with ease.

'Tucker, call Lavon and have him meet us outside-'

'Nah not a hope no way the mayor is comin' down here not a chance.'

Wade shot to his feet, enough was enough. 'Alright listen. I know that you are pissed about what happened but stop actin' like I've forgotten 'bout it because believe me I will never, ever forget that day never! I know I was a baby runnin' away like that I know that but I was 16 and I was scared! You would have down the same thing if you weren't flat on your back!' he was so furious spit flew from his mouth as he screamed uncontrollably 'Now do whatever the hell you want to me, shoot me, kill me I don't care but do not hurt Zoe. Lavon is gonna come, he's gonna take Zoe and George too if you want and then you'll finally have your chance, to get revenge. Just don't hurt Zoe. Please.'

Wade flicked his eyes towards George who slipped out the back with his cell in his hand as Roger placed the bottle of beer down on the table. Wade dropped back down to his knees as he looked at Zoe.

'Lavon's comin' and he's gonna keep you safe.'

'Wade...' she croaked 'Please don't die. I need you.' There was so much pain her voice as she pleaded with him.

For that moment they seemed to forget where they were and what had just gone on. He loved her so much and he hated himself for what he had just put her through. He pressed his lips against her forehead 'I love you Zoe Hart…' he whispered as a noise caught his attention in the background almost like a sliding noise, like an object on wood.

'I love you too.' She placed her hands on his that were resting on her knees. The noise behind him continued and Wade decided to turn around to see what the noise was and that's when his face fell.

'I changed my mind' Roger said as he lifted his shirt revealing a Black Hand gun.

'Zoe get out now!' he screamed ' go go go!' he pulled her to her feet.

'Stay!' Roger ordered.

'Go! Go now.'

'Dammit Kinsella I mean it I'll do it. Stay!'

Wade pushed Zoe away as Roger pulled out the gun, pulled back the safety and placed his finger on the trigger. Wade faced Roger with his arms spanned out praying to god Zoe would leave or George would burst through.

'Do it!' Wade screamed, testing Roger. He really wanted to know if Roger had the guts to do it or if it was just all built up in his sick twisted head.

'Wade please…' Zoe squeaked.

'Zoe go. He won't do it. He was a chicken back then and his is a chicken now.'

Roger cracked his neck as his nose twitched with anger. His hand was shaky but still in a perfect line with Wade's chest.

'Wade-' Zoe never had a chance to finish her sentence as within that moment she watched as Roger bent his index finger pressing against the trigger and releasing the bullet into the atmosphere. It was as if time stood still and she swore she could see the bullet coming her way that was before Wade's muscly body jumped in front of her. It all happened so fast as she watched him fall to the ground and George ran back in after hearing the shot.

He just lay there. A single bullet hole in his ribcage and a tiny pool of blood slowly forming as she dropped to her knees.

'Wade. Wade please' she shook his vigorously but nothing, his eyes didn't even twitch. She placed her hand on his chest just above his heart and screamed.

'Wade! Wade! Wade! Come on please, please wake up.'

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**Please review and hopefully the next chapter will be up soon! Thanks (:**


	10. Chapter 10

**Thank you all so much for the reviews, it is so much easier to update knowing people are actually enjoying it. Anyway per your requests I updated as quick as possible so yeah I hope you enjoy. Also I'm on my summer holidays now so I can update more often. Enjoy!**

….

'I'm sorry sir unless your family you cannot go past this point.'

'But you don't understand we came in with him, we called the ambulance!'

'Sir I'm sorry but I can't let you in, family only-'

'But his brother is in the army and his dad is a drunk! We are the closest thing he's got to family.'

'Sir I really am sorry, those are the rules. Can you please take a seat in the waiting room and someone will be out to update you.'

Lavon opened his mouth to argue but George interfered by putting his hand across his chest 'Lavon come on just leave it. She said someone will be out. Ain't nothin' we can do in there anyway?'

'He's right Lavon, waitin' is waitin' no matter where you do it.' Annabeth said calmly as they all gathered around the coffee table. Lavon fell into the uncomfortable couch and held his head in his hands as George rested against the wall. Annabeth kept switching her attention from Lavon and George to the double doors across from them hoping that someone would walk through and give them good news, but she wasn't hopeful.

'It can't be good that they sent us to Birmingham. I mean can't they deal with gunshots in Mobile?'

'They said Birmingham was better equipped to deal with it. Mobile is their sister hospital. I'm sure it's no indication to Wade's condition.' George said trying to convince Annabeth and also himself but something told him the sudden detour to Birmingham was a huge indication to his condition.

'How long do you reckon Zoe will be?' Annabeth asked trying to get Lavon's mind off Wade.

'I'm not sure, they just wanna check her out, clean her up a bit.'

Annabeth nodded as she sensed Lavon wasn't in the mood to chat, instead she looked up at George who was bust staring aimlessly into space 'George, did you call Brick?'

George shifted his weight from against the wall and cleared his throat 'Yeah uh he said that he would tell Lemon and that if we needed him here he'd come.'

'Lemon better not come anywhere near this hospital.' Lavon muttered under his breath as Annabeth tuned back into him.

'Now Lavon don't do that. No one could have seen this comin'. Lemon didn't know-'

'Know what? Know that goin' to a loan shark would result in nothin' but trouble or that when Wade found out he was gonna just sit about and do nothin'? No. Lemon knew Wade would get involved and try fix it cause that's who he is, this was not his mess nor was it Zoe's and now they're both payin' for it!' He spoke with so much anger and venom and all Annabeth could do was drop her head. She loved Lemon and although she knew Lemon was desperate when she went to Roger she also knew Lemon was wrong and stupid and now poor Wade was left to deal with the unfortunate consequences.

Zoe struggled to lift herself from the examination table, her arms felt like jelly as did her legs but the thing that affected her most was the image of Wade's body falling onto her like a ton of bricks, so helpless and limp. The sound of the bullet leaving the gun and then the sound of it dropping to the ground as Roger bolted out the door. The evening's events ran through her mind like rotation as she struggled to walk down the empty corridor to where Lavon and Annabeth and George were. She felt numb and her heart ached but she was also angry, furious in fact. How could Wade lie to her about such a thing, she could let the past slide, everyone has their pasts but loan sharks? She was hurt but she also knew Wade was hurting more, literally.

She turned the corner and came face to face with George; he gave her a sympathetic look but also an awkward one as he didn't really know what to say. She smiled softly and took a seat beside Lavon who immediately put his arm around her.

'You get the all clear?' he asked in a soothing tone as she rested her head on his shoulder.

'Yeah. A few bruises, nothing in comparison to…' she paused, she couldn't even utter the words '…I'm fine.'

'I'm goin' to try Jesse again.' George said as he made his way down the corridor. 'And I'm goin' to go find some food, you need to eat Zoe.' Annabeth said as she rummaged through her purse for some money. Food was the last thing on Zoe's mind but she didn't have the energy to fight with Annabeth.

'So how you really doin'?' Lavon asked once they were alone.

Zoe sighed 'This is my fault.'

Lavon certainly wasn't expecting that.

'Zoe none of this is your fault. It was Lemon who borrowed the-'

'No not the money. This, Wade in the hospital, fighting for his life.' She paused as Lavon shifted his body around so he could get a better view of her face.

'After he cheated, about 3 days after I was in the bathroom and I found his razor and his shaving cream and I lost it, I just broke down crying. I was so hurt that I threw the razor across the room and in that moment I hoped that…that-'

'That what?'

'That he would die.' A single tear rolled down her cheek as Lavon tightened his grip around her. He felt so bad for her, of course she could conclude this was her fault she was Zoe and she was liable to letting her mind wander.

'Zoe...'

'No Lavon this is what I wished for, he had broken my heart and I wanted him to die.'

'You listen to me Zoe Hart, you were heartbroken as was he but you didn't mean it, you were just angry and upset and you needed to vent. Let me tell you I have wished Lemon Breeland and Ruby Jefferies dead a few times but I never actually mean it!'

Zoe giggled a little, she knew Lavon was just trying to keep her mind at ease but she still felt awful.

'Lavon he has to be okay. He has to be…' she wept silently into his shirt as he stroked her hair in an attempt to comfort her but he knew the only person fully capable of doing that was the man flat on his back on the operating table fighting for his life.

'He will be, but you gotta stop thinkin' negatively. Come on; tell me a happy story bout Wade.' He didn't want to make it seem like Wade was dead, reminiscing about times past he just wanted to distract her from this notion she had in her head that this was her fault.

Zoe took his suggestion seriously and thought long and hard about a good yet appropriate story to tell. There were so many, which showed just how amazing Wade was but she exactly which would she would say and she smiled even thinking about it.

'It was New Year's Eve, you were busy moping over Ruby and I was feeling really down because New Years in New York was my favourite time of year, anyway my mom had flown home and he told me we were going to watch the fireworks in the town square with everyone else but instead he blindfolded me, put me in his car and drove me to that lake just outside of town and he had a picnic and candles and rose petals scattered across a big rug…' she smiled as she recalled the scene, the backdrop of the lake and the stars along with the dozens of candles '…I was speechless but then, after we ate he led me down to dock and put me in this little boat, that was padded with blankets and pillows and he rowed us out to the middle of the lake and we lay there watching the fireworks…' Lavon looked down at her and smiled, they had never told him of that particular adventure of theirs which meant it must have been really important to them both '…I remember lying there with a feeling of indescribable joy in my stomach , looking up at him thinking this is where I want to be…forever. I was happy because he makes me happy and when we broke up I went back to that lake a few times, and just ran that night over and over in my mind and I just remember praying for that feeling of joy in my stomach again… and I did, at least for a little while.'

'And you will again Zoe I know you will.'

'But how do you know for sure Lavon?' she cried 'I saw the look on the ET's faces and the doctors. It wasn't a good look; I know the look I used to wear that look!' She began to get panicked and flustered; she lifted herself from Lavon's shoulder and ran her fingers through her hair. Lavon hushed her back down into his body and gripped her shoulder 'I know he's gonna be okay because that boy has waited months to finally get you back and no gunshot is gonna get in his way. You just got have a little faith.'

Zoe soon dozed off just as Annabeth arrived back with cups of coffee and a packet of donuts. Lavon considered waking her but she looked so peaceful and at ease. George returned to the group after numerous attempts to contact Jesse but his efforts were cut short. He looked at his phone and saw it was 3am meaning Wade had been in surgery for 3 hours now and still no update, they really needed an update.

'Any luck with Jesse?' Lavon asked in hushed tones as George shook his head 'Nope. Tried his cell that I got from Wade's phone but nothin'. How's Zoe?'

'Distraught, scared, traumatized, you name an emotion she's feelin' it.'

'Poor thing. She had nothin' to do with any of this.' Annabeth said sympathetically as she watched Zoe sleep.

Just then the double doors opened and out walked a handful of doctors. George saw it as a scene straight out of Grey's Anatomy as did Annabeth but Lavon was more focused on the serious look on their faces. The doctors, led by a red haired woman looked at the chart in her hand before walking over to Lavon.

'Are you here for Wade Kinsella?' The red headed doctor asked. Lavon woke Zoe as Annabeth and George rose to their feet.

'How is he?' George asked.

'How did the surgery go?' Annabeth added.

'When can we see him?' Lavon asked as Zoe just stood there with tears in her eyes, she couldn't take her eyes off the doctors trying to read their body language to see if she could get any in tell on how Wade was.

'Just calm down…' the doctor said in hush tones as she and the other doctors took a seat on the couches inviting the others to resume their seats.

'I'm Dr. Nielsen I was head surgeon on Wade's case and this is Dr. Shaw and Dr. Finch they were assisting.'

Lavon looked around; no one else appeared to be speaking up so he decided to take the wheel. He cleared his throat 'I'm Lavon Hayes and this is George and Annabeth...' he looked at Zoe who was sitting there timidly '…and uhm, this is Dr. Zoe Hart. Wade's girlfriend.'

The Doctor turned her attention to the bruised and battered lady touch tight with Lavon 'Ahh I see well then I will give you this information. Wade's left lung is punctured it collapsed completely, the bullet went right through leaving a substantial amount of damage, too much damage to fully repair now so we managed to put a temporary support in to hold it in place and we'll go back in in a few days and hopefully repair it fully.'

'So he's okay?' Annabeth asked hopefully.

All 3 doctors dropped their heads 'There was a slight complication during surgery…when Wade came to us he had lost a huge amount of blood and half way through the procedure his blood pressure dropped dramatically. We lost him for a few seconds.'

Annabeth gasped as Zoe's stomach flopped, her body felt numb and although the doctor kept speaking she didn't process any of it. She had to see him; she had to hold his hand and stroke his hair and tell him that she loved him.

'So what does that mean?' George asked.

'Well, we resuscitated him and his stats restored to normal almost immediately. We have him on a ventilator to help him with his breathing, he's in recovery now and soon we'll bring him up to the ICU.'

'So he's okay?' Annabeth asked not really sure of what the doctors were telling them.

'Short term no but long term yes. He should make a full recovery once I repair the lung.'

They all blew out a sigh of relief except for Zoe who never moved, her eyes fixed on the floor. George and Lavon continued to fire questions at the doctors until Zoe cleared her throat 'Can I see him?'

'Not right now, a nurse will be down in a few hours to bring you to him so if you want to get some food maybe sleep now is the time to do so.'

Zoe nodded her head disappointedly she was expecting an answer along those lines but she still felt the need to ask.

'Thank you Doctor.' Lavon said as he held Zoe's hand.

'Yeah thanks for everything.' George said chiming in.

'That's my job…' she said standing up 'Oh I almost forgot….' She reached into her pocket and pulled out a clear ziplock bag '…We found this in his hand when we were about to operate. We weren't sure what it was but now that I've learnt your name is Zoe I assume it belongs to you.' Zoe took the bag out of her hand to see her locket looking up at her, immediately tears began to stream down her face as she looked to Lavon for comfort. Her heart ached for Wade as she sobbed uncontrollably into Lavon's shirt.

….

Zoe had no interest in eating and so as the others tucked into cold cafeteria food she gently slipped away and made her way to the nurse's station.

'Excuse me; I was just wondering if I could see my boyfriend? He had surgery a few hours ago. His names Wade Kinsella.'

The nurse flicked through the number of files in front of her before searching her computer 'We sent a nurse to find you not too long ago; you must have been in the cafeteria. You can go see him now, just through those double doors and he's 4th room on the left.'

'Okay thank you.'

Zoe took her time walking down the corridor; it was silent bar the beeping of machines. Most of the rooms were filled with sleeping patients most with various tubes coming out of them. She counted the rooms until she reached the 4th.  
The lights were dim letting off a sense of calm from the room. It was small and simple with only a bed, two chairs and a number of machines and IVs. The minute she walked in he caught her eye. He normally came across as strong and powerful but laying in that bed with tubes coming out of his mouth and through his nose he looked small and lifeless. He looked peaceful though as she held a tight grip of her locket. For some reason she was nervous about taking a seat beside him, the noise of the ventilator was daunting.  
She rested her two hands on the bed as she noticed the clip on thermometer on his index finger and IV connected to his arm, she cracked a small smile thinking about the fuss he would have caused if they tried to put a needle in him while he was conscious. She examined him from head to toe but especially his hair. How could someone get shot, have surgery and still manage to maintain an almost perfect hairstyle. After settling down Zoe felt comfortable enough with putting her right hand on his while keeping the locket in her left one.

'Hi…' she cracked out, she scoffed to herself. He was lying there with a tube down his throat begging to hear something other than beeping and all she could say was hi.

'Lavon's here and George and Annabeth too.' She paused in anticipation of his response 'And the doctor said you did great, you're going to need to have another surgery in a few days but you're going to be fine.'

She paused again before looking at his face, it was so solemn and plain yet if Zoe looked at his mouth long enough it looked like he was smiling even with a big blue tube coming out of it.

'I'm not sure if you can hear me but I've seen enough episodes of One Tree Hill to believe that you actually can so, I just want you to know I'm angry and I'm upset and I'm confused and I have a really bad bruise that no amount of concealer will fix but I'm also scared, I'm scared of losing you so I need you to know I'm not going anywhere. I'm going to be here today, tomorrow and every other day until you wake up. I promise.'

….

**Hope you enjoyed it and please review! Also for those who were asking I have not forgotten about my other story I have just been super busy but I promise it is coming, be patient with me! Thanks (:**


	11. Chapter 11

Thank you all so much for the amazing reviews! I will get around to replying to them I promise! I've been so inspired lately I sorta flew through this chapter so I really hope you enjoy this! (:

….

Zoe tapped her finger against the counter sub-consciously, her gold ring making the slightest noise but enough to draw the nurse's attention. She stared aimlessly into the distance as the busy hospital life raced around her. Lavon watched on as he messed with the empty cup of coffee in his hand, he looked up at the clock above the nurse's station and rolled his rolled his eyes, why did time go so slowly and given the look on Zoe's face she was feeling the same way.

'Hey Z why don't you sit down, aren't you always sayin' standin' for too long is bad for you.'

'Well it's a good thing we're in a hospital isn't it?' she quipped as she peeled away from the counter and took a seat beside Lavon.

'How long has it been?' Zoe asked as she watched the flow of doctors and nurses pass her by.

'Bout 3 hours. You wanna go back to the hotel maybe get some sleep, eat-'

'No I want to be here when he gets out of surgery.'

'Zoe the doctor said it could be hours. You have plenty of time, just go.'

'I want to be here-'

'You have been here for the past 3 days; Annabeth had to pull you away last night. You need to clear your head.'

'Lavon, I made a promise to Wade and to myself that I would be here every minute until he wakes up.'

Lavon sighed, he wasn't winning this battle. For the past 3 days he had watch her slowly set up camp in the hospital. The first 27 hours were spent at Wade's beside most of those hours just staring at him, checking his stats every half hour before the nurse put a ban on her looking at his chart. Eventually halfway through the second day Annabeth coaxed Zoe away from his bedside with a room at the Hilton paid by Lavon of course but she only showered, slept 4 restless hours and rushed back to be by Wades side.  
His surgery was a surprise to both Zoe and Lavon who were under the impression it was Friday but when Dr. Nielsen informed them the support she had put in place was beginning to falter they agreed in her decision to bring the surgery forward. Lavon knew by the way the doctors were talking his condition was serious and so he didn't rush Zoe as she said goodbye before he was brought up to the theatre he also noticed as she was saying goodbye she tucked her locket into the palm of his hand and kissed him on the forehead, It was in that moment that Lavon realised just how desperate Zoe was for Wade to be okay and so was he because he didn't know what they would do if he wasnt. For the first hour Zoe paced the corridor biting her nails fiercely but once Lavon got her to calm down she accepted that fact that pacing would not make things move any faster.

'How did you sleep last night?' Lavon asked trying to distract Zoe, even if it was just for a moment.

'Surprisingly well, the hotel was such a good idea, it's so close to the hospital I can be there in under 10 minutes although I can't say I enjoy giving Paris Hilton the satisfaction of knowing I was enjoying her family's brand. I had breakfast there this morning so you and Annabeth can relax. I'm not going to feint from lack of nutrients.'

Lavon rolled his eyes; he had to admire her sense of humour given all that had happened.

'Well you know it is Lavon Hayes duty to make sure the towns doctor is in tip top shape.'

'Well she will be, once Wade is awake.'

Lavon smiled 'Lavon Hayes must also comment on your positivity, it has come on massive amounts in the past 3 days.'

'Well I realised I can't sit around thinking the worst, just gotta focus on Wade.'

'That's the spirit.' Just then his cell began to bring as he excused himself and let Zoe browse through the number of fashion magazines she had gathered over the days. Once the name appeared in front of him Lavon sighed, he had avoided it for the best part of the week but he could do it no longer.

'What do you want Lemon.' Lavon said coldly.

'_Lavon thank god I have been tryin' your cell for days now, what have I told you 'bout chargin' it on a regular basis?_'

'Lemon I didn't forget to charge it I've been avoidin' you on purpose and you know why.'

'_Lavon if you are insinuatin' that what happened to Wade was in anyway my fault-'_

'I ain't insinuatin' anythin' I am sayin'. Wade would not be in surgery right now if it wasn't for you and your immaturity and all round stupidity. Now listen to me when I say this. Stay away from this hospital and stay away from Wade.'

Lemon didn't have a chance to respond as Lavon had disconnected the call and returned to his seat before she could breathe. He returned to discover Dr. Nielsen standing beside Zoe who had tears streaming down her face.

'Zoe…'

He looked at Dr. Nielsen and then back at Zoe. 'Hey is everythin' okay?'

'He's okay...' she blurted out between the tears 'He's going to be okay Lavon.'

Lavon's jaw nearly dropped to the floor as he looked at the Doctor for clarification who was happy to oblige 'I was able to repair the lung completely, we got in there just in time as the support fell away in my hand but everything ran as planned and he made it through with flying colours.'

'That is amazin' Doctor thank you so much.' Lavon said shaking her hand as Zoe was too over joyed to move.

'You are very welcome. Now like before it will be a few hours before you can see him but the ventilator is out meaning we just have to wait for him to wake up on his own.'

Zoe continued to cry but they were tears of joy as Lavon held her in his arms as he kissed the top of her hair.

Once Lavon had called George and informed him of the good news he finally convinced Zoe to go back to the hotel and to shower, nap and have a substantial meal because he knew full well once she returned to a fully conscious Wade he wouldn't be able to peel her away.

…

Once Zoe had showered and dried her hair she ordered room service and decided to flick through the endless amount of movie channels. She herself had accepted she needed to take a break away from the hospital and seen as Wade was now through the worst she decided she was in serious need of 'me time'. For the first time in 3 days she switched on her phone to be greeted by her screensaver, a picture of her and Wade and to her surprise she didn't cry but instead smiled knowing in a couple of hours she'd be able to see him again.  
Just as she was about to start a new season of the Carrie Diaries there was a knock at the door, in a fresh outfit of high waist shorts, an almost see-through top and a blazer all for Wade's eye of course she shuffled across the room feeling awfully impressed that her order of BLT and fries was ready so fast. However when she opened the door she was not greeted by a young handsome waiter with food in his hand but rather Lemon Breeland with a bouquet of flowers in her hand.

'Lemon…'

' …' she looked her up and down and couldn't help but notice the glow surrounding her and of course her over-priced outfit and ridiculously high louboutin shoes '…oh my, the way Annabeth was goin' on you'd swear you were a grievin' widow but clearly I see she was talkin' trash.'

Zoe scoffed, even that was low for Lemons standards. 'How did you find me here?'

'I overheard Annabeth tellin' Josie that Lavon had put you up in the Hilton so you could be close to the hospital and seen as Lavon was cuttin' me off completely I figured I'd come right to the source.'

'How did you find out my room number?'

'I have a way with people .'

'You can say that again.'

'Yes well, here I am. So, how is Wade?'

Zoe shook her head in disgust, how was she acting like there was nothing wrong? Like _she _had done nothing wrong.

'How's Wade? How's Wade? That's the best you've got? How about sorry.'

'Sorry?'

'Yeah sorry for going behind Wade's back, for getting involved with dodgy white trash, for lying to Wade about it, for making him lie to me about it and for getting him shot!'

'I do not make him lie to you and I only went to Roger because I couldn't go to Wade!'

'What do you mean you couldn't go to Wade? He hasn't gone anywhere.'

'Not physically, he went nowhere but mentally he has been hung up on you, all summer. The money just started to run out and he was bein' snappy and grumpy and-'

'Lemon are you seriously blaming this on me?!' she spoke with such venom leaving Lemon a bit taken aback by her tone.

'You played a part in it-'

'You know what Lemon, when I first came here I took your crap and yes admittedly I played a part in your and George's break up but me and Wade? You were never involved in our relationship! You never had anything to do with us and vice versa. I know Wade was in a dark place this summer so was I, but never I mean ever did he or I ask you to jeopardize the thing that means the most to him. Blaming all this on anyone but yourself is crap and you know it.'

' .-'

'No Lemon just shut up! Because of you Wade is lying in a hospital bed with a hole in his lung! And apparently you don't seem to care at all!'

'Excuse me Dr. Hart I do in fact care-'

'No you don't! You only care about yourself, and who will be there for you when you need it and you only care about how you look…' she was on a tangent and nothing was stopping her'…which by the way I know you criticize my fashion style but have you looked in the mirror lately?! You look like a walking table cloth from the 60's!'

Lemon gasped.

As her voice slowly became higher and higher she became to draw attention from other rooms and the young waiter who had arrived with her food. She looked Lemon up and down, there weren't many times she could say she hated a person but in that moment she hated Lemon, how she walked around with a completely guilt free conscious was beyond her.

Lemon stepped aside to let the young waiter wheel the trolley of food into the room as she tried to think of something else to say, to get her point of innocence across but Zoe was having none of it.

'Go home Lemon and listen to me clearly when I say this, stay away from me, stay from Lavon, stay away from the hospital and stay away from Wade!'

She slammed the door shut before Lemon could open her mouth, in a fit of rage Zoe through her handbag across the room before noticing the petrified look on the waiters face. Suddenly aware that she had accidently kidnapped a hotel staffer. They both stood there awkwardly as Zoe looked around trying to think of something to rectify her sanity.

'That's what you get for naming a kid after a fruit.' Zoe joked.

'Ma'am can I get you a glass of water?'

'That would be good yes please…or wine, I could do with some wine too.'

'Red or white?'

'Red, please.'

'Okay...' he scurried out of the room as fast as his short legs could carry him leaving Zoe standing there feeling extremely embarrassed and no longer hungry.

….

'Oh thank god Zoe Hart there you are!' Annabeth screeched as Zoe came down the corridor with a bag in her hand.

'Here I am. Why do you look so panicked?'

'Well Lavon went home to sleep and shower and well, be mayor I guess and I told him I would come up in his place but I got here and you weren't anywhere to be seen and the nurses hadn't seen you all day and I thought oh god what if something bad has happened.'

'Annabeth...' Zoe put her hands on her shoulders in an attempt to calm her down '...hey look at me, I'm fine. I went back to the hotel, had a shower had something to eat, got into a bitch fight with Lemon…'

'Whoa what was the last part?'

Zoe sighed as she ushered them to take a seat as Annabeth placed a cup of coffee and a donut in front of her.

'Lemon came by my room this afternoon.'

'Oh my god, how did she find you? She didn't come by here; at least I didn't think she did…'

Zoe smiled at how much Annabeth cared and she loved her for that 'AB calm down, she overhead you talking to Josie and wormed her way past reception.'

'Oh Zoe I am so sorry.'

'No its okay. I'm glad she came by. I needed to hear her crap, I don't know why but I did. I warned her not to come by and to make double sure she wouldn't bother Wade I insulted her dress sense.'

Annabeth gasped 'Oh my.'

'I know I didn't want to have to but, god I just got so angry. It just doesn't sound like Lemon I mean I know we haven't seen eye to eye like ever but she just doesn't seem to care that this is her fault!' she looked over at Annabeth who had a plain expression on her face 'I'm sorry I know your friends with her-'

'Oh no Zoe trust me that is not it, I just…I'm scared. With Lavon shuttin' her out and George and me too I don't want to see her drown completely. I mean the Rammer Jammer hasn't been open in days.'

'You should help her.'

'What?'

'Yeah you should help her with Rammer Jammer and getting back on her feet, all that stuff because despite our feelings towards her Wade loves the Rammer Jammer and I don't want to see him lose it.'

Annabeth smiled, since she and Lavon had begun dating her and Zoe had grown closer and she had to admit she loved it; it was nice to have a friend who wasn't forever bossing her around and putting her down unlike a certain blonde belle. She knew Zoe meant what she said and she agreed, it would be unfair on both Wade and Lemon if the Rammer Jammer was to go to ruins.

'So…are you excited about seeing Wade?' Annabeth asked already knowing the answer.

Zoe's face lit up immediately 'Oh I am, but I'm also nervous. I know he has a long way to go but- he made it through surgery Annabeth, and he made it through the past few days. I really thought he was going to die but he didn't.'

'And miss out on bein' with you? You crazy?' she said lightly as Zoe smiled, that was the first time she allowed herself to be happy about Wade's condition.

'I'm sorry to interrupt…' a young nurse said as she came up beside Zoe and Annabeth '…but Zoe, someone's asking for you.'

Zoe nearly fell off her chair as the nurse smiled down at her, news had travelled fast around the ICU about the epic romance that was Zades mainly thanks to Annabeth and her big mouth but as a result the nursing staff was desperate for them to have a happy ending and they even had an intense game of rock paper scissors to decide who would be the lucky one to deliver Zoe the good news.

The nurse led Zoe through the ICU, past the room Wade had resided in the past 3 days and down to the wards. Zoe could feel butterflies in her stomach, she wasn't really sure what to expect, would he be wake and alert or would he be drowsy and asleep.

'Just a little heads up. He is on a lot of medication so he's awful drowsy and patients tend to 'ramble' so don't take anything he says too seriously okay?'

'I just want to see him…' Zoe said like a pathetic school girl but she was so excited to be able to have actual eye contact with him that the walk seemed to be taking an eternity. The nurse left her at the door of the ward as Zoe took a moment; clutching the bag in her hand she pulled back the curtain to see Wade. The tubes had been removed except for one in his nose but most of all he was awake, well the minute she pulled back the curtain his eyes lazily opened and once he saw her standing there in those short shorts he couldn't help but smile.

'Nice shorts…' he croaked.

'Nice gown…' she quipped as she suddenly felt more relaxed, her Wade was finally back. She looked around the room as she felt the tears forming and her throat tightening. Although he was extremely lacking in energy Wade could still sense when she was upset and he hated that, he tried to raise himself up in the bed but the pain in his chest was just too much.

'I missed you Doc. You know that?' He whispered trying to hide his pain.

'I missed you too…' she said through the tears.

'Come here.' He said holding out a hand weakly. Zoe gladly accepted and darted across the room and to his bedside. Cautious of his evident pain she placed her two hands on his face and kissed his forehead as he felt the tears roll from her face and onto his. He wanted nothing more than to reach up and hug her and keep her in his arms forever but he couldn't instead he placed his hands on her elbows and squeezed them.

They stayed like that for a few more minutes long enough for her to take in the smell of his hair and the feel of his skin. She eventually pulled away as she felt her back ache but her heart ached less. Zoe pulled up a chair beside him and smiled.

'We're gonna have a fight aren't we…?' he asked so innocently as Zoe stopped wiping the tears away to laugh.

'You bet your ass we're going to have a fight. A big one!' Only Wade would have her laughing about such a serious situation. 'But we're not going to say a thing until you are a hundred per cent. Just worry about getting better okay.'

Wade smiled softly as he eyes began to close 'Zoe…' he whispered.

Zoe waited for him to finish his sentence; clearly the drugs were starting to kick in as his head began to drop to the side.

'Yeah…' she said hoping to urge him on.

'Zoe...' he began to slur.

'Wade what is it?'

'Marry me…'

.

.

.

.

….

Hope you enjoyed and please review (: Thanks !


	12. Chapter 12

**Wow a huge huge thank you to everyone who has reviewed, the feedback has been amazing and I can't thank you enough, it's so encouraging knowing people actually enjoy your story! Really hope you enjoy this chapter!**

….

'Hey there gorgeous.' The nurse quipped as she poked her head around the curtain to see Wade sitting up in bed with his breakfast sitting in front of him. 'No Zoe this morning?'

Wade shook his head as he played with the fork in his hand 'She hasn't come by since yesterday. She hasn't called has she?'

'Sorry sweets no phone call, I heard her say something about fixing up the house so I'm sure she's busy getting it ready for you.'

'That must be it.' Wade said trying to sound okay with the fact that Zoe hadn't been to see him for a full 24 hours. Normally he would be okay with it but all the nurses seemed to be able to talk about was how she hadn't left his side since the minute he was brought out of surgery but when he woke she was practically invisible.

'How are you feeling today?' the nurse asked as she changed his IV and took his temperature.

'Better than yesterday, my chest hurts like hell though.'

'Yeah that tends to happen when a bullet goes through it! Let me get you more morphine but you gotta eat.'

'I'm not hungry.'

'Well tough. You gotta eat, cause the sooner you eat the stronger you're gonna get meaning the faster you'll get out of here.'

Wade didn't have the energy to argue even though he knew she was right however frustrating the road to recovery may be and it didn't make it any easier the fact that Zoe was practically non-existent since he regained consciousness 5 days ago.  
Her visits were few and far between and the times she did visit she had Lavon or Annabeth by her side so any chance of alone time was cut short. At first he was completely stumped as to what he could have to done to force her to act in such a weird manner but then it hit him, this was her way of punishing him for lying to her. How he hadn't thought of it sooner was beyond him, not that he didn't deserve it, what he did to her was awful and he was fairly sure he would be paying for it for the rest of his life, it probably even topped him cheating.  
Wade watched as the nurse left his room but left the bowl of porridge and glass of orange juice in front of him. He played with the lumpy porridge before pushing it and the tray away from him in frustration.

'That bad huh?' George questioned as he walked into the room with a bag in his hand.

'You have no idea.' Wade said as he watched George sit on the chair beside him and pushed himself up some more in the bed.

'How you feelin'?'

Wade winced 'I'm alright I guess. Just wanna go home really.'

George smiled and nodded 'It seems your keepin' the nurses on their toes, all they can seem to talk about is the 'handsome cowboy in 204'. At least your ego is still intact.'

Wade laughed 'Yeah they fight over who gets to change my dressin'. It's funny to watch, passes the time I guess.'

'Any idea when you're gettin' out?'

'A few days I guess. I dunno they not really sayin'…'

'Well your lookin' better... which reminds me.' He reached down and picked up the black sports bag and placed it on the end of the bed 'Zoe gave me this, its fresh socks, boxers, shaving cream, razors and some other stuff.'

Wade sighed and quickly overlooked the bag as George sensed something was up, he himself found it odd that Zoe asked him to bring the bag of supplies and how over the past couple of days she had been seen more around Bluebell and at the practice than at Wades bedside. Whenever anyone asked how he was doing she would respond with a fine or a he's doing good and quickly change the subject.

'Is everythin' okay with you guys, she hasn't been round much lately.'

'We're fine. Or at least I think we're okay. I don't think I did anythin'- well besides the fact I got her kidnapped. She say anythin'?'

'Nope, nothin'.' George couldn't help but notice Wade's disappointment and decided to do something about it. He reached into the bag and pulled out Wade's cell phone that Zoe had thrown in and placed it strategically on Wade's bedside and excused himself from the room saying he had his eye on one of the nurses. Wade made a quick joke about how she wouldn't give him the time of day after seeing Wade's abs but George simply shook it off with a laugh, glad with the fact that Wade really was starting to round a corner.  
Wade waited until George had left the room before reaching over and picking up the phone, despite the blinding pain in his chest he held off on upping his morphine dosage because he wanted to be level headed whilst making this call.

It seemed to ring out forever until eventually Zoe's cute little voice that gave him butterflies appeared on the end of the line.

'_Hello?_' she sounded busy, like she hadn't had a chance to see who was calling her. Maybe the nurse was right, maybe she was busy organising the house.

'Hey it's me.'

'_Wade. Are you okay? Is everything alright?_'

'Everythin' is fine Doc. George is here and he gave me my phone and well I just thought I'd call you.'

'_Why? Is everything okay? Cause you know there is a nurse's button beside your bed I'm sure they'll drop everything to be by your side_.'

'I'm fine Zoe I promise…I just, well I miss you.'

Zoe's heart nearly broke as he uttered those words. Wade waited for a response but all he could hear was silence.

'_Wade-'_

'You haven't been round much and I, well I really wanna see you.'

'_Your meant to be resting_.'

'I am. It's all I do all day.'

'_You're on a lot of medication-'_

'A kiss from you is just the thing I need to kick start this recovery.'

Zoe's heart fluttered as she bit her lip in an attempt to hide her smile. She was beginning to realise that Wade was slowly catching on to her ever growing absence and she couldn't blame him. One minute he has her promising she wouldn't leave his side and the next he has her sending him socks via George. One thing that also became clear to her was that he had no recollection whatsoever of his out-of-the-blue proposal. She knew Wade, better than anyone and she knew he would have brought up the subject within the past few days, either to take it back or to pressure her for an answer. He probably thought she was punishing him by avoiding him and she didn't want him to think that so she decided to put her feelings aside and put his mind at ease.

'_I have been seriously swamped at the practic__e__ but I'll be there for dinner. I promise_.'

'I'll be countin' the minutes.'

'_Don't go kissing any of those nurse's between now and then_.' She joked as Wade was a bit taken aback at the fact she was joking about him kissing other girls given their history.

'I'll keep it to 5 tops. I promise.'

'_I'm holding you to that Kinsella_.'

'I better go. The doctor is here, but I'll see you later.'

'_See you later. Bye_.'

….

'I am the worst girlfriend in the world!' Zoe proclaimed as she burst into Lavons kitchen with her hair in a messy bun and dressed in a pair of sweats. Annabeth and Lavon both looked up from their respective papers to see Zoe standing there in a frenzy.

Annabeth showed sympathy for Zoe's state but Lavon, who had seen one too many Zade moments, was far more hesitant to ask what was wrong.

'Well why would you think that?' Annabeth asked as she poured Zoe a cup of coffee.

'No no no.' Lavon said cutting across her 'AB do not get sucked into their drama, cause once you do, you never get out. Trust me.'

Zoe rolled her eyes and turned in Annabeth's direction, she had a panicked look in her eye, like she hadn't slept properly in weeks.

'What's the matter Zoe?'

'Okay what I am about to tell you guys-'

'Did you not hear what I said? No Zade drama while I'm eatin' my bacon.'

Annabeth scoffed 'Lavon if you don't want to hear then leave, or else cover your ears.' She turned back to Zoe who was fidgeting with her nails nervously 'What happened?'

Zoe closed her eyes and took a deep breath 'Okay. What I am about to tell you cannot leave this room and Wade can never know, agree?'

'Oh my god, you're pregnant aren't you? I knew it. It was bound to happen eventually.'

Zoe's eyes bulged out of her head as she shook her head 'No!' she screeched. Why did everyone presume whenever she said she had news it was that she was pregnant?

'Oh...' Annabeth said in a disappointed tone '...well then what is it?'

'Well…Wade and I…we- we might be engaged.'

'WHAT!' Lavon screeched, almost throwing his plate of bacon across the kitchen. Annabeth squealed as she covered her mouth with her hand 'Oh my god, he did it, he finally did it but wait, when did he propose? Oh was it from the hospital bed if so that is so romantic! Where's your ring? What's it like.'

'Annabeth hush. Zoe, how do you mean by might?'

'Well I was with him when he came out of surgery and he was really really high on morphine and he said 'marry me' before dosing off to sleep!'

'Oh my god.'

'Oh my god.'

'Please stop saying that!'

Annabeth nodded 'No, you're right. Okay so, what did he say the when he woke up?'

'I stayed up all night, hoping that he would wake or mutter some sort of follow up but nothing and I was so exhausted the next morning I didn't bring it up.'

'So that's why you've been avoidin' him?' Lavon asked as it all suddenly began to add up.

Zoe nodded, she was flattered although surprised at his proposal but the thing that had her most paranoid was not knowing if he really meant it or if it was just the massive amount of drugs talking. She needed to know but she didn't want to ask. She didn't want to tell him about it and have him feel obliged to ask her again but she also didn't want to ignore it.

'He hasn't mentioned it since. Do you guys think he means it?'

Lavon paused, he knew Zoe very very well and he had to be very careful what he said next because he knew Zoe was vulnerable to rash decision making and everything he or Annabeth said would be taken literally. Annabeth however was not as used to Zoe's nature and was not aware at just how neurotic the pint sized doctor could be.

'Right now, no.' Annabeth said confidently 'But in the bigger picture, yes.'

Lavon could only shake his head, what had she gotten herself into as he watched Zoe slowly begin to freak out.

'How do you mean 'bigger picture'?'

'Well it's just everyone has known since the day you two got together that…'

'That what?' Zoe snapped desperately.

'That well, Wade would eventually think about marryin' you.'

Zoe's eyes bulged as she looked at Lavon for clarification and his simple smirk confirmed it, maybe Wade did mean it and maybe as she hadn't given him an answer he was taking that as a no. Oh god, she thought, what had she just done? Her head was about to burst.

'Oh my god. You guys what have I done! My boyfriend who may or may not have proposed to me is lying in a hospital bed after taking a bullet for me and here I am sitting in sweats watching re-runs of the Bachelor!'

'The Bachelor? I thought you said you were swamped at the practice?'

'I lied. Oh god.' She dropped her head into her hand and groaned.

'Hey Z, can I ask you a question?' Lavon said in a calm tone.

'Yeah.' She said on the verge of hyperventilating.

'What was your answer?'

'What?!'

'You heard me, what was your answer?'

….

Wade twitched his nose as he got the feeling that someone was watching him, seen as his day was filled with a steady flow of doctors and nurses he just presumed it was one of the nurses checking his IV so he didn't bother opening his eyes. However the hovering continued and this time he felt it over his face so he lazily opened his eyes to see Zoe staring down at him, all wide eyed and bushy tailed. He jumped a little which caused his chest to throb and Zoe to jump away.

'Jesus Doc, way to scare a guy!'

'Sorry! I came in here and you were asleep and I didn't want to wake you up.'

'So you figured you'd just stand over me until I woke?'

'It sounded better in my head.'

Wade chuckled lightly at the look on her face as he pulled himself up. Zoe leaped to his aid but was nervous about where to put her hands so instead she readjusted his pillows and took a seat on the side of the bed, crossing her legs like an Indian. Wade placed his hand on her knee as he examined her.

'No shorts today?' he asked coyly as he scratched at her jeans fabric.

Zoe smiled 'So you do remember that night.'

'It's hazy at best but I remember feelin' like I'd just been shot…and of course seein' your sexy legs.'

'Wade!' Zoe squealed as she looked around to see if there were any nurses or doctors around. Wade soon caught on to her fears and laugh 'Doc relax, its 6 meanin' they're changin' shifts so we got about 15 minutes before they come round.'

'You know what time they change shifts? Wow you really are bored aren't you?'

'Yeah well I've had a lot of free time.'

Zoe sighed as she rested her hand on his 'I'm sorry I haven't been around much.'

'It's okay; you have every right to want to stay away.'

'Hey…' she moved closer to him and clasped their hands together '…there is nowhere in the world I wanna be than here with you, it was just- it was just really scary seeing you lying in that bed with all those tubes and wires.'

'But I'm okay now… well I will be.'

'But you weren't, and that scared the crap out of me.'

'Well seein' you tied up with a gun pointed at your head scared the crap outta me.'

He put his arm across his stomach in an attempt to ease the pain but Zoe wasn't stupid she knew discomfort when she saw it. She knew they were going to have to talk about that fateful night eventually but it was clear to her that even thinking about it caused him a pain and she didn't want him in anymore pain than he was at this time.

'Look, no talking about it, we have plenty of time for that once you're better.' She pressed her lips against his taking him completely by surprise as he pulled him into her. It felt so good to kiss her again, it had been too long he thought as he gripped at her shirt.

Wade eventually pulled away because no matter much he wanted to continue he was beginning to feel weak. He pressed his forehead against hers, very aware of the bruise on the side of her face. He stroked her cheekbone with his thumb 'You keep surprisin' me like that I'll be out of here in no time …' he whispered as Zoe drew for breath.

'Good because I need you home. The beds too big without you, too much space.'

'So you mean to tell me the only way to get you to actually stay on your side of the bed is to get shot?!'

Zoe laughed as she ran her fingers through his hair. In the 10 minutes she had been with him the colour had returned in his face and he was smiling more.

'Hey Wade…' Zoe asked as she watched him down his dinner of meatloaf and mash potato along with a glass of milk.

'Yeah?'

'We're doing good right? I mean all _this_ aside we're good.'

Wade pushed the tray away when he noticed the serious look on her face, with a touch of desperation. At first he was going to give her a slightly sarcastic and almost dirty answer but then he saw the look in her eye, the look she got when something was bothering her and he decided to drop the cool guy act as he rubbed her hand gently.

'Aside from this, yeah we are. 'He could tell by the look on her face that wasn't the answer she was hoping for.

He reached out and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear 'Zoe Hart you have changed my life, everyday I'm with you is a good day, a great day. You make my heart race and you have me thinkin' of things I never thought of in my life, ever. I told myself that if you ever considered givin' me another chance I would fight tooth and nail to prove to you that you are the single, most important person in my life and how being with you is… is the best, most incredible feelin' in the world.'

'You have a serious way with words Wade Kinsella' Zoe said through a mixture of tears and laughter as she kissed him 'I love you.'

'I love you too Doc…'

'So listen.' She said as she played with the patient tag around his wrist 'I promised myself I wouldn't bring this up and then I decided I would and then I decided I wouldn't and then back to I would but now that you've said all that I just-'

'Zoe!' Wade tugged at the end of her shirt. 'Spit it out.'

Zoe paused, she decided she was going to do it, she was going to tell him about his proposal. What was the worst that could happen? He says he meant it and she says yes and she gets to marry a terrific man with a humongous heart. She was going to do it.

'Wade the night you came out of surgery, I came to see you but you were really high on drugs, like really high and you were talking all weird and…you kinda said something.'

'Somethin'? Did I call you fat or somethin'?' He laughed a little hoping to drown out some of the ever growing tension in the room

'No, no it was nothing bad well at least I didn't think it was bad but maybe you think its bad-'

'Zoe.'

'Wade you asked me to-'

'Excuse me Mr Kinsella.' A deep voice said from the doorway. Wade and Zoe both looked around to see two police officers and a man in a suit standing in front of them. They looked at each other as Wade clarified who he was.

'I'm Detective Hendrix. I'm from the Mobile precinct I'm on the case involving the incident that occurred between you and Roger Fisher. We have a few questions we'd like to ask you now that your back on your feet.'

'Uh yeah sure, come on in.'

The detective took a seat beside the bed and rummaged through his bag before pulling out a notepad and tape-recorder. He placed the small device on the bedside as Zoe noticed Wade getting nervous.

'Hey don't worry, they just want to know what happened alright? George and I answered the exact same questions a few days ago. Just relax.'

Wade nodded as he held Zoe's hand tightly.

'Um actually Ms Hart we'd prefer if we could speak to Mr Kinsella alone.'

Zoe sighed 'Yeah sure.' She lifted herself off the bed but not before planting a kiss on Wade's head 'I'll be right outside' she whispered before leaving the room.

She watched on from through the half opened blinds as the detective quizzed Wade about the events leading up to the fateful night. She watched his face, he looked so serious as he tried to recall every minor detail of that night, it must have been hard for him to relive those moments and she felt for him. As she watched him something dawned on her, she didn't need to know if he meant it or not. What she did know was that he loved her and she loved him and that one day, when they were both ready they would talk about the idea of marriage but right now she needed Wade all to herself, no engagements no gunplay no loan sharks she just needed him and the rest they could figure out later…

…**.**

**So there you have it! Please review ****and let me know what you thought and hopefully I'll have the next chapter up within a day or two! Thanks (:**


	13. Chapter 13

**Seriously the feedback has been amazing thank you so much! Really hope you enjoy this chapter. Just a few notes on the previous chapter: I know a lot of people were expecting Zoe to talk to Wade about what he said but they are nowhere near getting engaged not in the story or in the show. The subject is not dropped however, that's the only hint I'll give you!**

…

Zoe and Lavon watched as Wade reached across the table, grabbed the blue bouncy ball and brought it into him. He groaned as the excruciating pain shot up and down his body like a dagger in the back. That was as much as he was going to do however as he dropped the ball onto the hospital bed in frustration as Zoe and Lavon looked at each other, trying to remain happy and positive for Wades sake.

'Big improvement from last week.' The doctor said as he scribbled down his observations on a chart and stuck the ball in his pocket. Wade could only grunt as the nurse helped him back into bed, something which proved extremely difficult for Wade.

The nurse then untied the hospital gown from around his neck and rolled it down to his waist revealing his bare chest. Immediately Zoe's eyes fell to the massive white dressing strapped across the left side of his chest. The doctor was careful in pulling the dressing away as his wound was revealed. The wound was raw and red and had several stitches and staples around it, the sight was too much for Lavon as he struggled to look at it.

The doctor examined it and nodded satisfactorily 'Looks good Wade. The wound is healing well and your almost 70% mobile.'

'Almost 70%' Wade grunted.

'Wade…' Zoe cried from the windowsill, she could tell his frustration was starting to grow at how slow rehab was going but he didn't need to be rude to the doctor, he was only trying to do his job.

The doctor chuckled, he was no stranger to frustrated patients 'Look Wade, you knew the rehab was going to be long and sometimes challenging but you've got to stick with it. You'll get your upper body strength back soon. I promise.'

Wade could only nod his head.

'But…' he said as he pulled off his rubber gloves '…the good news is, your scans came back clean, your blood pressure, which was slightly high is back to normal and you should be good to go home in the next few days.'

Wade suddenly became interested in what the doctor was saying as Lavon and Zoe both stood up.

'What. Are you serious?' Zoe asked as she walked over to Wade's bedside.

The doctor nodded 'He is going to need 24 hour care. No walking for the first week or so, no steps so that means no stairs so I'd advise you move your bed downstairs for the next few weeks.'

'That will not be a problem…' Zoe interjected '…our bedroom is on the ground floor.'

Wade looked over at Lavon_, our bedroom_ they both thought.

'Well it's pretty clear you're going home in safe hands Wade huh?' the doctor joked as he commented on Zoe's commitment to Wade.

Once the doctor left Lavon followed soon after to call Annabeth with the good news. Zoe was delighted that she was finally allowed to start packing his things for good. Finally, after 3 stressful and miserable weeks in the hospital Wade was finally coming home.

Wade watched as she buzzed around the room gathering his things and gently putting them away in his bag. He watched her intently, she was so serious and set on making sure everything was perfect that she didn't notice him smiling at her.

'Zoe relax, he said I'm comin' home in the next few days not today. You don't need to pack right now.'

'I'm just packing away a few things.' She threw the bag onto the end of the bed and began packing away more stuff. Wade looked down and reached in, pulling out a pair of underwear.

'I think I'm goin' to need these don't you think?' Zoe scoffed a little and smiled, maybe she was being a bit over the top with the packing as she watched him curl his hand around her wrist and pull her towards him; he had strength in his arm which made her to believe he wasn't giving it a 100% in his rehab.

'Put the bag away Doc…' Wade whispered as he gave her that look she had seen so many times before. She dropped the bag onto the floor and pulled her legs onto the bed.

'So…' he said as he played with the bracelet around her wrist.

'So?'

'Our bedroom huh?'

Zoe dropped her head in embarrassment when she suddenly became very shy and retiring, she tried to avoid his stare but it was too much as was his cheeky grin. A part of her was hoping he would pick up on what she had said but another part didn't want to be exposed to his teasing and playing.

'Well. I mean you can't stay in your place because you need 24 hour care and Lavon's house has stairs and you heard the doctor you can't have stairs.'

Wade smiled 'Uh huh that is correct.' He enjoyed watching her squirm.

'And well seen as I am going to be with you most of the time anyway I just figured that you could stay with me.'

She looked at him expecting some sort of reply or expression but all she got was that typical Wade-like grin.

She soon began to backtrack as the silence grew between them 'Or else if you don't want to I mean I'm sure Lavon could put a bed downstairs-'

She was cut off as Wade reached over and kissed her taking her completely by surprise, running his hands up and down her back as their lips crashed together, she wrapped her arms around his neck and continued to kiss him.

'We're gonna have fun together, roomie.' He teased as he wrapped his arms around her waist.

'_We _are not going to have any _fun _together until you are back to full health.' She said as she jumped off the bed 'which means you doing your rehab.'

'I am doin' it.'

'Do it properly.'

Wade groaned 'Zoe…'

'No I mean it come on, I've seen you, I know you can do it your just being stubborn .'

'I am not.'

Zoe threw her hands on her hips and pouted, he knew she was right but he just didn't have the motivation. Zoe looked around the room for another way to coax him out of bed.

She rooted through his bag and placed a t-shirt and tracksuit on the bed 'Get dressed.'

'Zoe I don't feel like getting' dressed today.'

'Tough. We're going on a walk.'

'I don't want to.'

'I don't care. Come on get dressed.' She rooted through his the drawers in the corner of the room for some socks as he stuck to his guns.

'Zoe I really don't want to-'

'Wade…' she walked back over to the bed and pulled the blankets from off him '…I know you can do this, because I believe in you, but you've got to let me help you.'

Wade looked her in the eyes as the memories of the night she first said that came rushing back to them both along with the pain and heartache that followed. He didn't freak though, he didn't panic like before instead he smiled and reached down for his shirt. It had been frustrating, the past few weeks and he could admit that he hadn't given his rehab full attention but knowing that Zoe was there for him may be just the thing he needs.

…

'Zoe!' George called but got no reply 'Zoe!'

'Just a minute!' a small voice called from a distance.

'Oh okay so I'll just stand here holdin' this heavy couch until you're ready.' George said as he struggled to keep a hold of the couch even if it was partially resting against the wall.

Zoe marched into the room to see George holding the couch against the wall, she smiled as she noticed him panting but soon tried to hide his struggle.

'There is no need for sarcasm, and um what are you doing with my couch?'

George raised his brow 'you said you needed help moving your couch?'

'No I said I needed help moving my car… its over at Lavon's and he's on his way back from the hospital with Wade and I need it back but I also need to be here when they get back.'

'Oh…' George laughed awkwardly feeling slightly embarrassed about the fact he had pulled her couch halfway across her living-room. He began to move it back into place as Zoe finished bring Wade's stuff from his house to hers.

'I didn't know he was bein' released today.'

Zoe handed him a bottle of water as she opened all the windows to let some fresh air in.

'Yeah, they were going to keep him til Monday but I think the fact they know he's going to have a doctor at home with him puts their minds at ease a little.'

'He's stayin' with you for a while?' George asked as he noticed the pile of clothes in the corner and x-box on the coffee table.

'Yeah. Just until he's back on his feet.'

'Good, and hey Zoe I'm glad you've decided to let him off the hook with the whole Roger thing.'

'Oh he is not off the hook. Not at all. I'm just waiting until his can dress himself before we get into it and when we do the whole town is going to hear about it.'

Wade laughed a little as he dropped his head 'Look Zoe, I wasn't exactly Wade's biggest fan after what he did to you but what happened, with Roger and the gun and all that, it wasn't his fault. This was Lemons doin' and Wade was tryin' to fix her mess. No one could have predicted what was goin' to follow.'

'No you're right the gun was not his fault, the kidnapping was not his fault but he lied to me, he lied to me about him and Lemon being in debt, that's not something you hide from your girlfriend.'

'One day, he hid it for one day.'

'Are you really defending him?'

George paused, he didn't really know why he was defending Wade but then again he did. He knew Wade; the guy had a heart of gold that always put everyone else before himself and he knew that Wade would never deliberately harm Zoe or anyone for that matter.

'Look all I'm sayin' is that you and the Rammer Jammer are the two most important things in Wade's life… he made a mistake in lyin' to you Zoe, a mistake anyone could make. Just think about it.'

'I will…' she said quietly 'You haven't heard from the Detective have you?'

George shook his head, he had taken on the role of manning the legal procedures and every day when he met Zoe the first thing she would ask him was if there was any update on the investigation and every day all he could tell her was that Roger was being held in custody and that the proceedings were going slower than expected.

'Zoe you know the minute I do hear somethin' you'll be the first to know.'

'Why is it taking so long? I mean it's pretty obvious that Roger was a psycho, why don't they just lock him up for good?'

'It's not that easy. They gotta do up the charges-'

'George. Come on, what's going on?'

George looked at her blankly as her face dropped 'The cops are investigatin' Roger but, they're also lookin' at Wade.'

'What why? Why would they be looking at Wade he saved me, he took a bullet for me!'

'It seems Roger blabbed a bit durin' his interview, about what happened between the two of them when they were younger and I dunno I guess they're lookin' into it.'

'Oh god…' Zoe said as she covered her mouth with her hand to hide her obvious concern, she hadn't gotten a chance to ask Wade about the incident that had occurred all those years ago and she had no real intentions on dwelling on it because it was in the past, and everyone has a past but now, well now things had changed.

George could sense her fear and moved beside her 'Hey look at me, Wade's not gonna go to jail alright? Roger's just usin' it as a delay tactic, but I promise you Wade is gonna be fine.'

A single tear rolled down her cheek and George quickly wiped it away.

He stood up from the couch and made his way to the door just as Lavon and Wade came through it. Zoe needed to shake George's words from her mind as she saw Wade standing there, he looked weak and tired.

'You guys are home earlier than expected. I thought I had another half hour.'

Wade, who was resting all his weight on Lavon's shoulder looked around the room, it was a mess.

'Doc, why have you pulled the place apart?'

Zoe looked around, admittedly it was a little messy but that was the least of her concerns as she watched Lavon bring Wade to the bed and lift his feet onto it.

Lavon stared at Wade 'This is where Lavon Hayes work is done. Zoe can undress you.'

'She does it best.'

'Wade!' Zoe screeched even though she knew Lavon was well used to hearing Wade make crude jokes.

'Aw come on Doc I got a hole in my chest the least I can do is make a joke.'

Lavon laughed as he finished bringing Wade's bag in from the car. He stayed for a while, made sure all of Wade's medicine was there and that he didn't need any more help before taking off. Zoe walked over to the bed and began taking off his shoes.

'Zoe, I'm not paralyzed; I can take off my own shoes.'

'Well can you please do so because you're going to dirty my bed linen.' With that she whipped his legs with a t-shirt as he jumped while laughing.

'Hey come here…' he said pulling at her wrist and before she knew it she was laying out the bed kissing him, she could feel his soft socks move up along her bare leg as he began to unbutton her shirt, that's where she drew the line.

'I have to go to work…'

'Well technically you are at work cause see at the moment I am a patient and you're my doctor.'

'It doesn't work like that' she cooed at him as she buttoned back up her shirt and got up off the bed 'I promised Brick I'd come in for a bit so I'm going to be at the practice til around 7, Lavon is going to bring you dinner around 5 but until then you are under strict orders to sleep.'

Wade rolled his eyes as she pulled the bed covers up around him like a mother tucking her son in at night. Wade thought about contesting the schedule she had put together for him but he was beginning to feel tired as it had been a long day.

'Hey Doc…' he grumbled as Zoe made her way out of the room.

'Yeah?'

'Thank you.'

Zoe smiled as she watched him slowly drift off to sleep before slipping out of the house.

…

'Brick…' Zoe called as she entered the practice. There was nobody around which brought back some scary memories for her, this was her first time alone in the practice since the incident and she soon became nervous. She found safety in her office making sure the door was locked. She took a seat at her desk to find Brick had oh so kindly delivered a stack of files that required her signature, in the back of her mind she could hear Wade telling her to just sign them and come home but she was the type of person who liked to read something before signing it. She soon began to regret her decision 20 pages in but her attention quickly changed to the noise of rummaging on the other side of the door.

She took a deep breath and slowly made her way across the office with a weapon in her hand, well her hairbrush but she was fairly sure it could do some damage if necessary. The noise continued, it sounded more like footsteps than anything else but Zoe wasn't taking any risks. She unlocked the door and slowly opened it…

She opened the door expecting to see her intruder, most likely wearing black with a balaclava instead she saw someone worse, much worse.

'Jonah…' she could barely get the words out of her mouth as he stood in front of her with that charming grin of his and scruffy, yet perfect sandy blonde hair.

'Dr Hart, what's with the hairbrush?'

'What the hell are you doing back in Bluebell?' Zoe asked, ignoring his witty comment.

'Brick asked me to come lend a hand; him and Shelby are goin' on some cruise and seen as you are appearin' flakier than ever I decided to do it.'

Zoe shook her head; this cannot be happening she thought.

'Come on, ain't you happy to see me?' he said sweetly.

'Thrilled.' She said sarcastically as Jonah chuckled.

'I heard about Wade, how's he doin'?'

'He's fine.' She said bluntly.

Jonah nodded as he leant against the reception desk 'So, how about we lock up here and I go take you to Fancies. I'm dyin' for a good meal.'

Zoe scoffed; he was unbelievable, so arrogant and pompous.

'No way.'

'Aw come on, it will be like the summer, me and you-'

'I'm going to stop you there Jonah, now you can hang around looking at yourself or whatever but I'm going home…to Wade.'

With that Zoe gathered her belongings and marched through the practice, Jonah watched her walk away as he laughed, satisfied with the fact he had ruffled her feather sufficiently.

Just as Zoe was pushing the door open Jonah called from behind her.

'Hey Zoe….' His soft tone was enough for her to stop but not turn around.

'He doesn't know does he?'

'Who doesn't know what?' Zoe asked, already knowing who he was talking about.

'Wade, You never told him?'

Zoe turned around clutching both hands on her bag; she didn't need to say anything for Jonah to know her answer.

'Stay away from him Jonah.' She warned.

'You mean to tell me that our little Wade doesn't know what his girlfriend got up to over the summer?'

'Jonah, I mean it. Do not go anywhere near Wade or me for that matter.' She began her descent down the steps.

'Wow you really have changed your tone since the summer, haven't you Dr Hart?' he said as he followed her onto the sidewalk.

Zoe didn't even respond and kept walking across town, afraid to look back she wrapped herself in her arms. Zoe made her way across the town square in another world completely, how could this be happening, she couldn't face the memories of summer but most of all she couldn't tell Wade although something was telling she wouldn't need to tell him, that Jonah would have no problem doing that for her….

…**.**

**So sorry it took me so long to update but I have been so busy and my laptop was acting up. Really hope you enjoyed this chapter and please review! Thanks (:**


	14. Chapter 14

**Sorry this update took so long but I think the lack of HoD has kinda dried up my enthusiasm a little but nevertheless I will forge on! This chapter is a little short but the next one is longer I promise. Also I finally got my " button fixed. It had been screwed since before Christmas but now its back so I guess that's a positive lol. Anyway hope you enjoy and thanks to everyone who reviewed (: **

…

Zoe tossed and turned in the bed slowly but surely pulling the blankets of Wade's body, he lay there wide awake taking in her every move. Her sun kissed legs kicked around as did her arms. Something was bothering her Wade thought as he looked down at her. He didn't want to wake her so instead he gently placed his hand on her shoulder and stroked it softly.

His soft touch was enough to wake Zoe who jumped slightly before turning to face him.

"Bit jumpy there Doc…" Wade said sweetly as he propped himself up in the bed.

"Sorry… I didn't hit your chest did I?"

"Nah, I just can't sleep."

"Are you hurting? Because I can get you some- " She shot up in the bed, switching on the light and began searching through his medicine box only to be interrupted by Wade's long arm coming across her body.

"Baby…just stop alright? Why are you so jumpy? You've been actin' weird since you came home…"

Zoe cleared her throat "No reason, I'm just worrying about you."

"Well don't be…" he pulled her back into him and flicked off the light "I am fine, well I would be if my girlfriend would just stop squirmin' around and let me sleep."

"Sorry…"

Wade dropped a kiss on the top of her head as his eyes slowly began to close but Zoe's never blinked. She gripped at his warm skin and listened to him breath, it was light and calm unlike hers, heavy and tense riddled with guilt and lies.

"I worry about you because I love you…" she whispered.

Wade looked down at her and smiled, there was something unusual about her tonight he didn't know if something had happened at work with Brick or if George had given her an update on Roger but it was bothering him. He didn't want to ask her what was wrong because he knew from experience that it could potentially lead to a conversation he didn't want to have. However he also didn't want her to think he didn't care so he squeezed her body gently and sighed.

"I'm worryin' about you too you know…"

Zoe sighed, he knew her too well. She didn't want to lie to him but she also didn't want to talk to him about the particular issue on her mind no matter how awful she felt about lying to him, she just couldn't do it.

"I'm fine; I just have a lot on my mind." She said bluntly.

"Anythin' I can help you with?"

Zoe smiled; he was so cute when he was trying to cheer her up. She nuzzled her face into his arm "You just being here helps me so much, you have no idea."

"That's good to know, at least I ament doin' a completely sucky job so…"

Zoe laughed a little "You are doing a far from 'sucky' job Mister. You've been amazing…you took a bullet for me."

"And I'd do it again in a heartbeat don't think I wouldn't" He said calmly as he stroked her arm up and down in soothing patterns.

Zoe breathed hard as her brain went into overdrive, would he really be saying all those things if he knew the secret she was hiding from him? She could think of nothing but her conversation with Jonah and it was killing her.

"Wade I just want you to know that I forgive you for everything that happened with Lemon and Roger…"

Wade looked down at her, as she scratched at his bare chest. He wasn't expecting to be let off the hook so easily and in a way he didn't want to be. "Why would you do that?" he questioned nonchalantly.

Zoe sighed, what she really wanted to say was that it was because they had both lied and that if she let Wade off for lying then her conscious would be somehow cleaner but she didn't. Instead she lied…again.

"It was stupid and I overreacted because seeing you lie in that hospital bed was heart wrenching and I'm just grateful that you're here. The past few weeks have made me realise life is short and I just want to move past it." She tugged at his warm body although aware of the wound on the other side of his chest, taking in every second of this moment because she knew it was on a timer.

"I'm sorry I scared ya so much Doc. Next time I'll just let the bullet go through you…"

Zoe's eyes widened as they both laughed a little "See there we were having this nice moment and then you go and say something like that!" she said laughing as she turned to face him. Wade only shrugged but still had a smile plastered across his face.

"You know me Doc, charmin' as ever."

"Uh huh" she said as she reached up and kissed him. It felt good to have his lips against hers, it was like a release, from everything and for a split second she felt like everything was going to be okay.

Soon after Wade drifted off to sleep Zoe pulled back the covers, climbed out of bed and crept out of the room closing the door gently behind her. Once she was out in the fresh air she let out a big long sigh, the sound of the bugs kept her company as she made her way towards Lavon's house. The lights were on meaning he was up, not that it would be an issue if he was asleep because Zoe had no problem bursting into his bedroom and waking him up.

Lavon sat the counter with a bowl of cereal in front of him when Zoe appeared at the kitchen door. Her hair was messy and her eyes heavy. Straight away Lavon knew something had happened or was about to happen because he hadn't seen her enter the kitchen looking that sad since her break-up with Wade.

"Let me guess, Wade did somethin', he hid it from you, you got kidnapped he got shot?"

Zoe stared at him blankly as Lavon smiled awkwardly "Too soon to joke about it?"

"Just a bit."

Lavon nodded, accepting his mistake and watched as she took a seat beside him, folded her arms on the counter and placed her head down.

"Lavon…" she muttered "…is there something wrong with me?"

Of all the things Zoe had ever asked his opinion on, this was definitely the weirdest and most unexpected. He wasn't quite sure how to answer her as he didn't know if she actually wanted him to answer it or to tell her she was perfect or if it was a rhetorical question.

Zoe lifted her head in anticipation of an answer and figured since it took him so long to answer then there was in fact something wrong with her. She threw her head back down on the counter and groaned.

"Z, what happened?"

"Seen as you couldn't answer the question there is clearly something wrong with me. Oh great one more thing to add to the ever growing list of Zoe Hart's flaws!"

"Okay whoa cool it on the whole self-destruction thing there. Why would you think there is somethin' wrong with you?"

"I don't like screw with good things, like relationships do I?"

Before he knew it Lavon had answered and the sudden look of disgust on her face told him he shouldn't have said yes.

"Lavon!" she cried.

Lavon threw his hands up by his side in aid of his defence "I'm sorry Z but when it comes to relationships you have a tendency to… get involved… just the slightest."

Zoe rolled her eyes "give me one example of this so called 'involvement' Lavon?"

" Going after George while he was engaged, Going to New Orleans with George, professing your love for George in his man of the year speech, going out with Wade's brother who he hates, interfering with me and Ruby's relationship, telling George you love him while he was with Tansy-"

"Yeah okay Lavon I only asked for one! And the one with Wade's brother was weak, I didn't know they were brothers."

Lavon chuckled "Zoe, why you askin' me all this stuff?"

Zoe sighed "I just, things are going really well with Wade." Lavon raised his brow at that statement given the events that had just happened, Zoe looked at him and nodded "Okay if you leave out all that, we are doing really great but I… well I-"

"Oh lord Zoe Hart what have you done now?"

"It's more something that I did some time ago Lavon. More specifically, summer."

It suddenly hit Lavon and his jaw dropped "Zoe. Please don't tell me…" he shuddered "…you and-"

Zoe slammed her hands against her ears "No Lavon don't say it"

"Jonah!" he squealed as Zoe shook her head violently hoping somehow that by shaking her head the event would be erased from history.

"Jonah" he repeated "Jonah…Oh Zoe"

"No Lavon do not speak in that tone, it is not fair."

"What tone?"

Zoe waved her hand in front of this face and spluttered awkwardly "That tone of, of judgment and… general shame."

"Alright, I'll hold back on the judgment for now. How did it happen?"

Zoe sighed as she recalled the awful events of the summer. It meant nothing to her and she regretted it the minute it was over but it still happened and she lied to Wade, she looked him in the eye and said nothing happened with Jonah. Of course she wasn't completely naïve she knew this was Bluebell and that Jonah would be back on occasion but she was so wrapped up in getting back together with Wade it just sort of slipped her mind.

Lavon waited for an answer as he witnessed Zoe slip into another world, her long empty stares left her removed from the room as she thought back.

"It just happened. I had just gotten off an 18 hour shift and I was really emotional and lonely and he just would not go away and well you know…"

Lavon nodded, he could tell from the sound of her voice that it meant nothing and she regretted it but he also knew Jonah and his ability to ruffle an endless amount of feathers until he was satisfied. He didn't want to scold Zoe for what she did, it wasn't like her and Wade were together but he also felt for Wade, he knew how much this would crush him.

"And I'm guessin' Wade doesn't know."

Zoe shook her head "No he doesn't, he thinks that nothing happened between Jonah and I because that is what I told him when I first came back to town."

"But why?"

"Because he was standing there, hurt and he was slipping Lavon, I was losing him I could feel it so I thought that if I lied then eventually I could tell him but only once we were back together but now Jonah is back and he is going to tell Wade and Wade is going to be so mad that I lied Lavon especially after the fact I made a huge deal about him lying to me about Roger! Oh god we're going fight then we're going to break up and then I'm going to be forever alone."

"Okay alright you need to calm down" Lavon said as he rubbed her back in clock-wise circles "I'm not gonna lie to ya Zoe, Wade will be upset, but he'll just need time but hey, you don't know anythin' until you talk to him right?"

"Right…" Zoe said trying to convince herself that Lavon was right, she wanted to believe it so badly.

….

Wade pushed his clenched fists into the mattress and pushed himself up off the bed, he winced as the pain darted through his chest despite the number of painkillers he was on. He powered through though as the need to get out of bed was eating away at him. Once on his feet Wade took a moment to find his balance before venturing across the room with the couch being his final destination. As he was shuffling across he heard someone in the hall way.

"Hey man…" Wade said as Lavon appeared in the doorway, he was too focused on walking to notice the solemn look on Lavon's face.

"You're walkin'? I thought the Doctor said no walkin' for the first week?"

Wade sighed as he finally sat down on the couch, he didn't have the strength to switch on the X-box so instead he decided to milk Lavon for all the company he was worth.

"Yeah Zoe kinda re-wrote the rehab plan the Doctor had done up, she had me walkin' round that hospital the minute they pulled the tubes from my throat."

Lavon laughed, that was such a Zoe thing to do.

"I don't mind though, I know that if I was to stay in bed all week I'd just forget how to walk completely plus I like havin' Zoe as my nurse, she gets so serious and professional. It's so hot!"

Lavon scoffed "Well it's good to see this whole thing hasn't affected your sense of humour"

"Uh huh" Wade said flicking his head in agreement. "So what's up?"

"Nothin' much, just thought I'd come by and see how your doin'. Zoe isn't around is she?"

"She was gone when I woke up this mornin'. Hasn't even checked up on me which is a surprise, she's probably busy though."

Lavon let out a fake laugh as he knew Zoe Hart was not busy. She was holed up in her office thinking of the worst possible scenarios all while dining on glazed donuts and multiple cups of coffee and scrolling through the internet looking for solutions to her problems on forums and blogs.

He watched as Wade tried his best to force open the bottle of water but it was proving difficult so he decided to help him out and also sniff around to see if Zoe had spoken to him yet.

"Oh yeah busy, you're probably right you know with Brick bein' gone on that cruise or whatever."

"Cruise? That man must have a money tree in his back yard, he is always gone somewhere."

Lavon nodded, Wade was right, Brick was always gone somewhere and always left Zoe to pick up the slack, something Zoe always moaned about which made perfect sense for Jonah to come into town for a while.

"So listen man-"

"Oh yeah…" Wade said cutting him off " Zoe told me last night that she forgives me for the whole Roger thing and that she just wants to move on from it."

Lavons jaw nearly dropped but still tried to act like he knew no better "Seriously?"

"Yeah, it was totally unexpected but hey I ain't gonna complain. Now we can finally move on, past all the lyin' and all that and just be together."

"Yeah…" Lavon said half-heartedly, he didn't want to rat Zoe out but he also didn't want to keep something from Wade.

Wade however noticed something was wrong and was in no mood to beat around the bush with him. "Lavon, what's goin' on?"

"Look Wade-"

"Well well well…" a voice said interrupting Lavon and stunning Wade. Both men looked up to see Jonah standing in the doorway with a case of beer in one hand and a grin on his face. Lavon's face dropped, a huge eruption was about to occur and as much as he wanted to stay and delay Jonah's soul crushing plan as much as possible he had things to do and he was already late to a meeting. He quickly excused himself to Wade as Jonah entered the room. Lavon, who was meant to be none the wiser of what went on between Jonah and Zoe tried his best to avoid conversation with the young Breeland but made sure to give a deathly stare as he brushed past.

"It will crush him…" Lavon whispered into Jonah's ear as he walked by but Jonah only chuckled.

Lavon decided if he couldn't do anything about it then Zoe sure as hell would and he decided to call her to inform her of the little man-date going on in her house.

"_Hey Lavon I am super swamped right now-"_

"You don't gotta act like your workin'…I ain't with Wade."

Zoe let out an innocent giggle, Lavon knew he all too well.

"_Oh okay well-"_

"Big Z, I ain't with Wade….Jonah is."

….

Zoe never ran so fast in her life. The minute Lavon uttered the words she had been dreading to hear she was up and out of her office chair faster than the speed of light. Just her luck that she had decided to walk to work that morning, taking the healthy option and all that so it was taking her extra-long to get back to the plantation in order to stop Jonah from potentially ruining the best relationship she had ever been in.

As she ran through the town, with her handbag swinging wildly she thought about how she could explain herself to Wade. Was she to lie and say Jonah was making it all up? Was she to use the kidnapping as a way out or worse, bring up his infidelity? Her mind was in overdrive as she approached the plantation. She could already feel Wade's hurt and anger coming at her through the bushes. Lucky for her he was only able to walk 10 steps before feeling dizzy so any chance of him storming out and getting steamed in a bar was out of the question. She just needed to see him, to explain to him that being with Jonah was a stupid, immature spur-of-the-moment thing that meant absolutely nothing to her but a part of her knew that wasn't going to be the issue. The issue would be that she lied, she lied right to his face and that was something she hated herself for.

Once she approached the house she found the door half open but strangely enough there was no screams or smashing of glasses going on inside. She took a moment before going up the porch steps, taking in the final moments of being in a happy relationship before bursting through the door with a red face.

"Wade please you have you have to know it was a stupid mistake that I regret. I love you and I want to be with you" she shouted as she came across Wade and Jonah sitting on the couch with the X-box controllers in their hands.

Wade looked up at her, his happy mood good suddenly "Doc, what are you talkin' about?"

Zoe could only stand there. It was all she could do.

…**.**

**Please review and yeah, hope you enjoyed! Thanks (:**


	15. Chapter 15

**Sorry it took so long but my head has been all over the place! Thanks to everyone who reviewed and I really hope you enjoy! (:**

…**.**

"Doc, what are you talkin' about?"

Zoe just stood there. Both eyes fixed on Wade although Jonah's stare was pressing heavily on her mind. She tried to speak but she just couldn't, the words just wouldn't come out of her mouth. Her big uncontrollable mouth that had caused her so many problems in the past and apparently right now too.

Jonah dropped his head, for some reason this was not as satisfactory as he had originally thought it would be. The look on Wade's face as he slowly began to process Zoe's confession was more hurtful than fulfilling and he soon felt bad. He had intentions to watch Zoe squirm by visiting Wade but he had no intention of actually telling Wade, there was no fun in that. He played with his hands nervously as the awkward silence grew unbearable.

"I'm gonna go…" Jonah said as he rose to his feet.

"Stay" Zoe snapped.

"Go." Wade hissed backed, his eyes fixed firmly on Zoe.

Jonah stood there awkwardly as Wade and Zoe bickered back and forth about whether he should stay to go. Zoe spoke with desperation, Wade with venom before Jonah made the decision to leave and he wasn't even down the porch steps before he could hear Wade's voice behind him.

"I just, what the hell Zoe?" Wade asked as he sat forward completely disregarding his wound.

"Look Wade I can explain."

"Yeah you should have explained 2 months ago not now, not when you accidentally uncover your own lie."

He was so angry, so stunned that nothing Zoe said could calm him right now. For months now he had been beating himself up for hurting her, for failing to be the man she saw in him all the while she got busy with Jonah.

"It was stupid and I regret it so much, you have no idea please Wade you have to believe me!" Zoe pleaded with him but it was no use, Wade had no sympathy for her, not even one ounce as he looked her up and down, why did she lie? And worse why did she let him think he was the guilty party in their relationship.

He stood up, holding his arm around his stomach as Zoe watched him struggle. She just presumed he was walking to the bed but when he headed in the direction of the door she panicked.

"Where are you going?" She asked as he reached for his keys that rested on the hook on the wall.

"I can't be here right now."

"Wade you're recovering you can't drive, the Doctor said so."

"And since when do you give a crap about what the Doctor says?" he spat back at her referring to the fact the extensive rehab she had him doing despite strict orders to rest.

Zoe didn't know how to respond to that so instead focused on the matter at hand "You can't just leave! You're too weak"

Wade swung around "If I stay, I'll say somethin' I regret…" he looked at her face, her beautiful flawless face that he loved so much, her soft skin and perfectly shaped lips that he could kiss forever topped off with those eyes, those eyes that would get her off a murder charge. He didn't want to feel this way, a feeling of betrayal and the smallest bit of hatred but he couldn't help it, all he could think of was the way he felt more than six months ago when he broke her heart by cheating, and now she had broken his.

"Wade please, just stay here. I'll go."

Wade ignored her and continued walking out of the house.

"Wade-"

"Zoe stop!"

"No! Either you stay here and I go or we both stay but you are not leaving this house"

Wade shook his head; he could not believe she was actually ordering him around. "Watch me."

Zoe watched hopelessly as he slowly made his way down the porch steps and limped towards his car that had been parked at her house for the past few weeks. He struggled to get it going at first but once that all too familiar engine rumbled he was down the plantation road leaving only Zoe and her tears.

What had she done? How did she let all this time pass before telling him, but more importantly, why did she do it in the first place?

….

Lemon rammed her shoulder into the door of the Rammer Jammer in an attempt to open it but it wouldn't budge. She grunted and groaned as this door was becoming a bigger challenge every day. She dropped her bag of groceries and tried the key once more when a voice came up behind her.

"You gotta shift it to the left a little, when it's in the lock, you gotta lift the key to the left."

Lemon swung around to see Wade standing in front of her, with black jeans and a white t-shirt he held his right arm across his stomach. He looked weak, not like the strong manly Wade she knew. She wasn't quite sure what to say to him, should she apologise for the fact she was the reason he was shot or for the fact she may have sunken their business. Instead she took his advice, lifted the key to the left and as Wade promised, the door swung up and the two walked into the bar.

Wade looked around, the shutters were closed and the chairs were all stacked on the tables as the stench of dampness lingered, Lemon reckoned that was due to the half burst pipe in the mens restroom but Wade didn't care. He loved this place, more than he ever realised and he didn't want to lose it.

"You not been open?" Wade asked as Lemon opened the windows and locked the door before pulling down two chairs for them.

"Didn't feel right without you. Plus we don't have any money to run it at the moment"

Wade nodded, he knew he should care about that stuff more than Zoe and Jonah but he didn't… "Your cousin screwed my girlfriend."

"Jonah and Zoe?!" Lemon asked in a state of disbelief "How did she manage that? I mean between bein' in the hospital with you and bein' in work I hardly figured she had time to wash her hair never mind have sex with Jonah!" Lemon couldn't believe it, how could Zoe do such a thing to Wade, he took a bullet for her!

Wade rolled his eyes "In the summer. She and Jonah had sex in New York, I only found out today."

Lemon sighed as she took in his sad demeanour, she didn't know what to say to him because she knew nothing would cheer him up.

"Lemon…I'm really sorry for abandonin' you this summer, I should have been around more to help you. I could have helped you before you felt the need to go to Roger. It was stupid of me and Im sorry."

"Wade…"

"No listen, you were right. I was mopin' around over the wrong things when I should have been puttin' all my energy into this place and not stupid Zoe Hart…"

Lemon shook her head "You don't mean that." she took his hand in hers and smiled "I'm sure there is a logical explanation as to why she didn't tell you."

Wade pricked his eyebrow "Lemon are you actually defendin' her?"

Lemon smiled "Doctor Hart may not have been as awful as I first made her out to be. Besides, you are still hung up on her after all this time so there must be somethin' good about her."

Wade let out a little laugh, that cheered him up a little bit but what would cheer him up even more was talking about anything other than Zoe and Jonah and the image of them….together.

"So what's the plan Breeland?"

"Huh?"

"What are we gonna do to get this place up and runnin' again?"

"Wade I think we should wait until your stronger before we-"

Wade shook his head adamantly "No Lemon, if we sit around, we die. Come on, where is the Lemon Breeland I know, the one who won't take no for an answer?"

Lemon moved around in her seat, that tone of Wade's that convincing and tempting tone was just too much and once he questioned her integrity she was sold.

"Well I have been brainstormin' while you were busy bein' shot…" she said trying to act subtle but Wade could see right through her and smiled.

"Lemon!" a low voice said from behind her as they both looked around to see Jonah standing in the doorway with a panicked look on his face and that look soon turned to scared when he discovered Wade sitting in front of him.

"Wade…" he said nervously.

Wade rose to his feet, his face serious and scary "You've got some nerve comin' round here you know that."

"Wade I can explain-"

"Explain what?!" Wade shouted "Explain the fact that 5 months ago you watched me tell Zoe I loved her and then 5 minutes later you're in her pants!"

"It wasn't like that! And it wasn't 5 minutes after, you don't-"

"You knew she was hurt and confused and yet you still went ahead with tryin' to get her into bed!"

Wade stepped forward pushing the chair out of the way, Lemon swore she saw steam leave Wade's ears he was that angry but she also witnessed Jonah growing in courage and standing his ground with the bartender.

"Yeah she was hurt and confused because you cheated on her and broke her heart!" Jonah spat back, his snide comment was enough for Wade to snap as he lifted his left fist and swung at Jonah causing Jonah to fall to his feet and Wade to keel over in agony. Lemon didn't know who to tend to first but the screams from Wade made the decision for her.

"Wade are you alright?" she asked but she soon got her answer when she noticed a circle of blood on his shirt. Lemon gasped as Wade held his wound wincing from the pain. Jonah thought about pouncing Wade but when he saw the blood coming through Wade's shirt he put his personal feelings aside.

"Wade I think you've ripped your stitches."

The pain was so bad Wade was forced to slam his eyes shut to stop himself from crying, he didn't want to take advice from Jonah but he also knew he was right. This pain was excruciating.

"I think I'm gonna pass out…."

Lemon guided him back to the chair and lifted up his shirt so Jonah could examine the wound.

"Why don't you have a dressin' on this?" Jonah queried as he examined the severity of the cut.

Wade winced "Zoe was meant to put a new one on today."

Jonah and Lemon looked at each other and Jonah soon changed the subject. "Alright well you're gonna need a new set of stitches, but first you're gonna need to get these old ones out."

Wade nodded his head "Okay, so…you gonna do it or not?" Wade asked as Lemon went into the kitchen to fetch some towels and warm water to clean the wound up.

Jonah dropped his head "I uh, I can't do it."

Wade cocked his head up "What you mean you can't do? You're a doctor ain't you?"

Jonah ignored Wade's sarcasm by placing a smile on his face and tried to remain calm. "Wade you just socked me, I can barely see straight. I am in no state to close your flesh back up!"

Wade rolled his eyes "Alright fine. Call Brick."

"He and Shelby are on a cruise. I'm fillin' in for him, so that leaves-"

"No."

"Wade come on, you need stitches! Your chest has a hole in it!"

"I can bleed out for all I care. She is not comin' by. I can't look at her."

"Oh for god sake." Lemon interjected "Wade Kinsella would you stop bein' the world's biggest drama queen and just accept you need help and that your girlfriend is the only level-headed doctor in town at the moment! So you are goin' to swallow your pride, act like the man I know you are and let her stitch you back up!"

Jonah and Wade looked at each other, gobsmacked to say the least at Lemons commanding tone. Wade sighed, he couldn't fight it any longer and the pain was getting worse so he agreed to Lemon calling Zoe.

…..

"Do you know what happened exactly?" Annabeth whispered to Lavon as they stood in Zoe's doorway looking on as she lay in bed curled up in the foetal position.

Lavon shook his head "All I know is Wade found out about her and Jonah then he stormed out and he's been gone for hours."

Annabeth sighed "Poor Wade- wait…" she looked up at Lavon "…who are we feelin' sorry for in this situation?"

"Lavon Hayes does not know."

"Well she can't just lie there. She needs to talk to him. Oh Lavon you remember how miserable she was when they broke up the first time, We only got rid of the last sympathy pie a few weeks ago! You have to talk to her!"

"Me? What would I say? Clearly she wants to be left alone."

Annabeth rolled her eyes, last time Lavon was left in charge of Zoe's mental state she was in bed for 6 days so she decided it was time for her to take action and strutted across the room and plonked herself down on the side of the bed causing Zoe to jump.

"Zoe…" she said sympathetically.

Zoe opened her eyes and looked up at Annabeth, she had seen those eyes before, those were the eyes of 'poor Zoe' or 'when will she ever nail down a man?' Zoe could only groan at Annabeth.

"I don't really want to talk right now you guys."

Annabeth shook her head "Zoe Hart. What in the world have you come to?"

Zoe lifted her head and Lavon also took notice to Annabeth's demanding tone.

"Let me ask you this. Do you think after Wade slept with that bar slut did he sit around mopin'? No, he fought; he fought like hell for you. He pulled his life together and finally became the man you knew he could be. He weaselled his way back into your life because he loved you and he knew you loved him too."

Zoe looked up at Annabeth as she took in every word she said, she knew what Annabeth was telling her. She was telling her to get out of bed, go find Wade and apologise, she knew it wouldn't be easy and that he would more than like shut her out but she needed to apologise, not just to clear her conscious but to save their relationship.

"You know he won't listen to what I have to say." She said into her pillow as Lavon smiled.

"That's the optimistic Zoe we know!"

Zoe scoffed "I'm serious! You guys didn't see his face. He won't give me the time of day."

"Z no offense but that's a load of crap…" Lavon joined them on the bed "…you and Wade have made it through George Tucker and break-ups and George Tucker again and loan sharks and guns and a whole pile of other stuff so what makes you think somethin' as small as this is gonna end y'all forever?"

Zoe smiled, she loved when Lavon tried to cheer her up but this time he actually made some sense and she decided to take action. As she began to remove herself from the safety of her sheets there was a loud vibration as Annabeth and Lavon looked at each other.

"Uh Z, what's that vibratin' noise?" Lavon asked, fearing for the worst possible answer.

Zoe looked around, she had blocked out the sound about 20 minutes ago "It's my phone, Lemon has been ringing me non-stop. I'd wish she would just take a hint."

Annabeth reached for the phone that was buried under the covers. There were 9 missed calls from Lemon and 4 messages all reading _'Come to the Rammer Jammer. Wade's in trouble!'_

Straight away Annabeth gasped as Zoe peaked her head around the bathroom door to see what Annabeth was squealing about as she showed Lavon the text.

"Zoe, we have to go to the Rammer Jammer right now!"

Zoe crinkled her brow "Wade wouldn't be there, it's closed."

"Oh he's there Zoe, and he's in trouble…" Lavon said as he examined the text.

Straight away the colour drained from Zoe's face, she knew she should have never let him leave the house, he was too weak. Her mind suddenly became flustered as she rushed around the room, throwing her head into a messy bun and slipping into a pair of heels, grabbing her medical bag on the way out. Annabeth and Lavon followed quickly after, not really sure if Zoe wanted them to come or not but that was soon clarified as Zoe barked at them to hurry up. Lavon offered to drive as he saw Zoe was in no state to control a vehicle. All Zoe could think about as they drove to the Rammer Jammer was the look on Wade's face as those dreaded words spilled from her mouth, how could she face that look again, that look of heartbreak and hurt.

….

"Lemon!" Lavon called as he and Annabeth burst through the door to discover Wade sitting on the chair with a towel across his bare chest and Jonah with an ice-pack over his face. Oh God Lavon thought, Wade must have tracked Jonah down to give him a piece of his mind and it must have ended in a brawl.

"Lavon thank god, I was beginnin' to think I would have to stitch him up myself. Where's Dr Hart?" Lemon asked as she quickly got Lavon's attention off the two patients and onto her.

"She's uh…she's comin'…just takin' a moment."

Wade dropped his head although still listening to Lavon, he didn't think Zoe would come especially not after the way he walked out on her. He focused his eyes on his wound until those all too familiar footsteps came into earshot. He lifted his head almost immediately as their eyes locked instantly, he swallowed hard as she smiled awkwardly. He could tell that she had been crying, her make-up was worn and her eyes slightly puffy. All he wanted to do was hold her and pretend like today had never happened, but it did and unlucky for them they had Jonah to remind them of their problems.

"Look I know y'all are goin' through a moment of strife or whatever but Wade needs to be stitched up so if you could wrap up the longing looks…" Jonah said forcing Lemon to roll her eyes and Wade to tense with anger.

Zoe quickly snapped out of her daze and slowly made her way over to both Wade and Jonah. Wade nervously peeled back the towel to reveal his open wound. He was very aware at the distance between them and tried his best to act cool but once again Jonah had to voice his opinion.

"Now Dr Hart how are you gonna stitch him up when there's a country mile between the two of you?"

Zoe gritted her teeth and huffed, she looked around at Jonah who was smiling to himself under the icepack.

"Jonah if you don't shut up you're going to have a second black eye." Zoe snapped at him as Lemon, Lavon and Annabeth hid their laughter. Wade also smiled, something Zoe picked up on and it calmed her nerves just a little.

Jonah shook off the laughs but Zoe was desperate to get rid of him. Things were awkward enough between her and Wade without having him and 3 other people staring at them like caged animals. Even from a distance she knew Wade was going to require fresh stitches and probably a local anaesthetic to help manage the pain. She made a quick trip to the practice to gather supplies and then ushered Lavon, Lemon, Annabeth and Jonah out of the Rammer Jammer leaving just her, Wade and a whole lot of awkward.

Zoe stepped towards Wade as he sat upright in the chair. The longer the silence went on the more awkward it got and when Zoe pulled up a chair in front of him, their knees touching Wade was desperate to relieve some of the awkwardness but he also didn't want to be the first one to talk so instead he watched her and each time their eyes locked he found himself forgetting why he was angry with her in the first place.

The touch of her hand on his body, although through latex gloves was enough to send shivers down his spine and his eyes to close. Zoe wiped the cut down with an alcohol wipe before rooting through her bag for a scissors.

"You didn't by any chance have something to do with Jonah's black eye do you?" Zoe asked finally breaking the ice, she wasn't giving out to him but rather asked him with a smile on her face.

"Maybe…" Wade said with a cute smirk on his face "…I'm payin' for it now though."

Zoe began snipping at the ripped stitches slowly but surely pulling them from around the wound. Wade tried to remain cool and not give Zoe an insight into the blinding pain but she could tell by the way he was gripping at the arms of the chair that the pain was getting too much for him. She put down the scissors and reached in to the bar this time pulling out a syringe and a small bottle of local anaesthesia. Wade watched as she filled the syringe and ventured towards his chest.

"This should help with the pain…" she gently pressed the tip of the needle under Wade's skin. He felt a tiny pinch and within seconds his chest felt numb and relaxed.

"I'm sorry I walked out this mornin' Zoe…" Wade said timidly.

Zoe winced and tried to keep her attention on the job at hand "You were upset, you had every right to want to walk out."

"But I shouldn't have…and I'm sorry for that."

Zoe shook her head and let out a frustrated scoff. How was it that he was apologising in this situation, he had done nothing wrong and yet he was apologising for her hurting her.

"You have nothing to be sorry for Wade. Believe me."

"Neither do you… you don't have to apologise for sleepin' with him. We weren't together-"

"No but Wade I shouldn't have, I knew that you were here waiting for me but I still went through with it."

"Why did you hide it from me? Its not like I'm an angel or anythin'…"

Zoe laughed a little as she began to stitch his wound back up deliberately taking her time because this was the best, most honest conversation they had ever had.

"I figured it would be better to lie and get you back than to be honest and lose you."

Wade raised his brow, she had never been so honest or vulnerable with him ever and he didn't quite know how to react.

"You were never gonna lose me Doc…" he curled his finger under her chin and raised her head up so he could have the perfect view of her big brown eyes "…you are never gonna lose me."

"I'm really sorry Wade. For everything."

Wade smiled at her, watching as she closed up his wound and wiped it down with an alcohol wipe. She pulled off her gloves and took a seat beside Wade. He reached for her hand and squeezed it.

"I love you Zoe but I think…I think I need some time. All this Jonah stuff just made me realise that we are goin' at a really really fast pace, a pace that I want to be at with you but the last time we were like that I screwed it up and I don't want to do that again."

Zoe's eyes filled with tears as she swallowed hard. "You want to break up?"

"No, not at all."

"I'm sayin' maybe we need to slow down a bit, and by slow down I mean I don't stay at your place."

"But you're recovering, I think today proves you can't look after yourself!"

Wade let out a little laugh "I think today also proves that we need to work on us and us bein' in each other's faces all the time isn't goin' to make us stronger, and I want that for us."

Zoe let out a massive breath "I want that too…" she brushed her hand gently down his cheek "…and I love you too and I am so sorry for everything, I should have dealt with it better."

Wade smiled at her softly, it felt good to finally open up to one and other, they rarely did it and it was so much easier than fighting. He still had that feeling of hurt in his chest but he knew over time it would go away because although Zoe had fallen he was not about to let her slip completely.

"You know what else I want..?" Wade asked in a slightly perkier tone as Zoe ran her fingers under her eyes to clear away any tears "…I want to go to bed!"

Zoe dropped her head and laughed, at last her Wade was back along with that heart melting smile as his.

"Yeah I think you may have slightly overdone it on the rehab today…"

"Just a bit." He said laughing as he began to put his shirt back on and Zoe gathered her things together.

"I'll get Lavon to drop you home and I'll give him a list of things to get you. Just painkillers, some antiseptic cream, that sort of stuff."

Wade reached out his hand and placed it on her arm "Zoe. You're my Doctor, not Lavon… I'll see you this evenin'…' he pulled her in and kissed her on the cheek before hobbling over to the door and opening it to discover Lavon and Annabeth with their ears pressed against the door and Lemon and Jonah peaking in the window. Wade only laughed as he walked past them. He was sure once Zoe told Lavon the story he would scold him for letting her off easy but the way he saw it was that she made a mistake, kinda like he did an if she had it in her heart to forgive him then he could do the same.

…**.**

**So I only have about 4 chapters left of this story! No new twist is being added, only one that has been planted already so look out ;) Hope yo****u enjoy and please review! Thanks (:**


	16. Chapter 16

**Thank you to everyone who reviewed! I hope you enjoy this chapter (:**

…..

"It's goin' to cost us this much to re-open the Rammer Jammer?" Wade said as he stared at the sheet of figures in front of him.

Lemon nodded her head disappointedly "Yeah, and that's not to mention to cost to fix the leak in the toilet and I haven't even added in the wage factor. We're goin' to have to let people go if we want to even think about breakin' even by Christmas."

"Let people go? We only have about 4,5 employees as it is. I wouldn't know who to cut…"

"Well we won't get to that point unless we pay our electric bill and that oh so delightful Presley called to remind us we still have outstandin' bills to pay."

Wade sighed and knocked his head back, running his hand across his face he sighed hopelessly. He didn't have the heart to let anyone go but he also didn't have the money to keep them on. He looked at Lemon and gave a lost smile.

"Put that issue to the side for a moment and Presley too, I'll deal with her don't worry. Right now we gotta focus on payin' off the maintenance bills."

"With what money?"

Wade laughed nervously "You haven't by any chance won the lotto in the past 48 hours and are just hidin' it from me for a laugh?"

Lemon scoffed, she wasn't even in a position to buy a lottery ticket never mind winning the thing. Both Wade and Lemon sat in a slump on his couch, neither sure what to do as Zoe knocked on the door and walked in. Immediately Lemon's eyes dropped to Wade as she scoffed. Wade ignored the stare he was receiving and pulled himself up off the couch.

Zoe picked up on Lemon and Wade's eye contact immediately and sensed maybe she had arrived at a bad time "I ament interrupting anything am I?"

"No." Wade answered before Lemon could open her mouth. He pecked her on the cheek as Lemon rolled her eyes. Zoe looked down at her with a disgusted look but luckily enough for her Lemon didn't pick up on it.

"Actually Dr Hart if you don't mind Wade and I have important issues to discuss so if you could leave…"

"Oh okay-"

"Lemon was actually just leavin'…weren't you?" he turned to Lemon with eyes like daggers as he rested his hands on Zoe's hips.

"Wade we have a lot of work to do and Zoe-"

Wade reached down and grabbed Lemons wrist, pulling her to her feet before directing her to the door leaving all their documents scattered across the coffee table. Lemon grunted and growled at Wade as he forced her out of the house with a cheeky smile on his face. He waited until she was off his porch to return to Zoe who was sitting with a frown on her face.

"Hi…" he whispered as he pressed his lips against hers, giving her a proper welcome.

"She still hates me doesn't she?" Zoe asked pulling away from Wade's grip.

Wade sighed, he didn't know why Lemons approval was suddenly so important to Zoe and last he knew there was never a time when Lemon didn't not hate Zoe. Lemons rekindled hostility towards Zoe occurred following the revelation of what Zoe and Jonah got up to over the summer. Zoe had long accepted her and Lemon would never be best friends but she couldn't understand why Lemon was suddenly so 'Lemon' again.

"Baby…ignore her-"

"Wade, for the past 3 weeks she has been nothing but ignorant and dropping snide comments. Don't you think its time she gets over what happened between Jonah and I? We have."

Wade looked down at his hands and suddenly Zoe found herself backtracking "We are over it, aren't we?"

Wade looked up and saw the concerned look on her face, he put his arm behind her and scratched at her shoulder "We're gettin' there" Placing a small kiss on her cheek he smiled "Lemons just protective of me, she doesn't want me to go back to the place I was in durin' the summer. She'll get over it, I promise."

Zoe ran her fingers through his hair and smiled "I like that she's protective, but I'd like it better if she was protective in a nice way."

Wade smiled "It's not just you that's pissin' her off. It's the fact that we're probably gonna have to sell the Rammer Jammer."

"What? Why would you do that?"

"Its gonna take a lot to re-open it and we have nothin' and_ I_ especially have nothin' after payin' those hospital bills."

Zoe locked their hands together, she could feel the fear off his body and the look of desperation in his eyes "You don't have nothing. You have me…" she pressed her lips against his, taking him completely by surprise.

Slowly Wade lowered Zoe down onto her back as she rested on the soft couch cushions. She felt his hands travel up her leg and rest on her thigh as she searched for the buttons on his shirt, he sped the process up by ripping is off and tossing it across the room before unzipping her jeans zip. He struggled at first causing Zoe to look down as she searched for breath. However her eyes fell instead on the white dressing strapped to his chest that was when she saw sense.

"Wade…" she panted as he nibbled at her neck.

"Yeah" he answered not really listening to her.

"Should we be doing this?"

Wade pulled away as he looked her in the eyes, he brushed a strand of hair from her face in an attempt to calm whatever doubt was bubbling up inside of her.

"Why shouldn't we?"

"Because your still recovering…we're still recovering."

"Zoe, us havin' sex won't regress my recovery, what's really botherin' you?"

Zoe sighed as Wade lay down beside her. She turned into his chest and played with the pendant around his neck. Wade knew something was bothering her but he didn't want to push her, he knew she would talk eventually.

"I don't want you to feel like you have something prove…"

Wade looked down at her with a confused look although deep down he knew what she was talking about "What are you talkin' 'bout Doc?"

"I am talking about you taking every chance of having sex you can ever since you found out that I had sex with Jonah."

"I don't think I understand."

"You do understand, you are taking every opportunity to prove your better in bed than Jonah."

"I am not!" Wade announced as he sat up.

Zoe laughed "Yes you are. Wade you practically cornered me yesterday when I got out of the shower. I was 20 minutes late to work."

Wade rolled his eyes as he tried to play it cool "Doc, I am not provin' anythin' alright? I have nothin' to prove."

"Alright, if you say so."

"I do." Wade said coolly but soon began to re-think things. He had no reason to prove himself, or did he? Before Zoe had sex with Jonah it was only ever Wade apart from her ex's but they were all a long time ago now however someone else was fresh in her memory.

"Do I?" he asked looking over at her.

"Do you what?" Zoe asked feeling satisfied with the fact she was messing with his mind.

"Do I have somethin' to prove with you know…sex and all?"

Zoe bit her smile as she stood up zipping her jeans back up in the process. Wade watched on, his mind in a tizzy as she began to gather her things and made her way to the door. He jumped up and followed her to the door, an action that didn't cause him half as much pain as it had been the past few weeks.

"I have to go to back to work, I only called in to see if you needed anything." She placed a small kiss on his cheek before turning around and strutting away from him as he kept running through the past 10 minutes in his mind.

"I have nothin' to prove!" he shouted after her but she kept walking, with a devious smile across her face.

….

"AB…" Wade droned as he picked at the bowl of cereal in front of him "…do you think Jonah Breeland is good in bed?"

Annabeth physically spat back up her food but luckily her hand managed to catch most of it, the shock of Wade's question caught her completely off guard and she could tell by the look of desperation in his eye that he wasn't kidding around.

"First off, why do you think I would be the one with then answer and secondly why are you thinkin' about such a thing?"

"Sorry…You're the only person I've seen all day except for Lemon and I couldn't ask her."

Annabeth smiled, she loved seeing Wade all cute and vulnerable, he was like a puppy.

"This is about Zoe isn't it?" she asked sweetly as she watched him push his bowl away.

Wade nodded.

"This whole thing a bit harder than you expected?"

"Well it wasn't until today."

"Today?"

"Yeah, she came by at lunch and we were about to you know…" he cleared his throat as Annabeth nodded urging him to quickly move on with his story. "And she told me that I have nothin' to prove."

Annabeth thought for a moment "To prove? Oh you mean to prove you're better in bed than he is?"

Wade slapped his hand against the counter in protest of her bluntness, she was right however and he needed advice, it was really bothering him and he knew it would be high in his mind the next time they did sleep together.

"She hasn't said anythin' to you about it has she?" He asked coolly as Annabeth smiled.

"Only how happy she is at havin' you back!"

Wade blushed a little but it didn't extinguish his fear completely "Of all the things that have gone through my mind since findin' out about her and Jonah, this was never one of them. I never considered the fact that well you know…he could be, superior."

Annabeth smiled "If this is really botherin' you, then you should talk to her but honestly Wade, you and Zoe are not about just sex anymore, you haven't been like that in a very long time. Don't let this become somethin' it's not."

Wade smiled, Annabeth's words comforted him a bit and certainly reassured him that this was not about to become a problem for him and Zoe but he still wanted to know what Zoe's real opinion on the topic was.

Just as Wade was about to ask Annabeth another question the kitchen door swung open and in walked Lavon and Zoe with a mischievous smile on her face. Immediately Annabeth looked at Wade who put on a fake smile to humour her.

Zoe looked down at the bowl in front of him and sighed "Wade, are you seriously eating cereal?"

"Well I was, but I kinda lost my appetite…." He gave Annabeth a glancing look as Zoe took no notice of their exchanges.

"Well good because I thinking tonight you could come over and we could have dinner."

"Do you want me to collect dinner?"

Zoe smiled "You wont have to. I'm cooking."

Wade, Lavon and Annabeth looked at each other and burst out laughing, uncontrollably. Zoe's jaw dropped as she hit Wade on the arm.

"Wade!"

" I'm sorry but baby, you cant cook."

"Yes I can!" she argued.

"Name one thing you have cooked for me, you or anyone else since you've moved here."

"That's easy. My gumbo."

Wade's eyes bulged out of his head as he shot a look at Lavon, both men stared at each other before Lavon cleared his throat.

"Uh actually Big Z-"

"No Lavon!" Wade interrupted him "The Doc's right, she did make that gumbo."

"Well technically Lavon made it but that's a minor detail. The point is that I can cook and I am going to cook tonight. For you!"

Wade shook his head along with Lavon and Annabeth who were desperate for respite from this ever-growing awkward moment and just when Lavon thought things were calming down Wade dropped a bombshell.

"Baby what time is this cookin' thing goin' down cause I'm gonna be out for a while tonight?"

Zoe lifted her head from the cookbook in front of her and Lavon pricked his ears "Ooo you got a hot date?" Lavon joked but he was by himself in the laughter as Zoe gave him a disapproving look and Annabeth shook her head in disgust. Clearly it was still too soon to be making jokes about Wade and other women.

Wade suddenly felt very uncomfortable, he didn't mean to announce his plans in front of everyone, it just sort of slipped out and now he regretted even saying anything to Zoe at all.

"Well where are you going?" Zoe asked trying to act like she wasn't at all curious by Wade's announcement.

Wade looked over at Lavon and then back at Zoe "It's not that important, really it isn't but I'm goin' to see Earl."

"Earl?" Lavon asked as Zoe shot him a look telling him it was time for him and Annabeth to leave. They soon left the room and Zoe took a seat beside Wade.

"You weren't going to tell me were you?"

Wade sighed "It wasn't like I was never gonna tell you but I knew that you would be against it. That you'd think I'd be doin' too much too soon."

"I'd have gone with you." Zoe said sweetly.

Wade shook his head, he knew Zoe was only looking out for him but he had to go by himself, he hadn't spoken to his father in months and seen as Zoe had voiced her feelings on every occasion about Earl's lack of visits he felt it was best he made the visit alone.

"I will be back by 7 and then we can have dinner, I promise. It better be good."

Zoe smiled "Oh it will be."

"Good because if its my last ever meal it better be."

Zoe gasped as she hit him across the arm. Wade laughed a little as he placed a kiss on her cheek before getting up off his seat and making his way to the door.

"I'll see you later Doc."

….

Wade took a long drawn out breath as he looked up at the house in front of him, he had never really taken notice of the detail of the house but it was nice. He clutched at the brown paper bag in his head as he clambered up the porch step and pulled back the porch door. Walking into the open floor plan Wade searched for Earl but there was no sign of him as he ventured towards the kitchen and then the back door.

"Earl." He called to the hunched over figure at the end of the garden.

Earl lifted his head to see his son standing there with a bag in his hand. He dropped the shovel he was holding and ventured towards Wade nervously.

"I don't need you to shop for me, I know where the store is…" Earl mumbled in reference to the bag of groceries.

"It's just some stuff, I can take it back if you like."

"Well its bought now aint it."

Wade nodded as he followed Earl to the two plastic chairs that rested on the wraparound porch. He took his time sitting down even though his mobility had come on leaps and bounds in the past few weeks. Earl took notice of how his son grabbed his chest and the wincing look that displayed on his face as he took a seat.

"I didn't know you were comin' 'round."

"Well I haven't been round in a while and I just wanted to make sure you weren't dead or nothin'…"

"I think it should be the other way 'round don't you think?"

Wade scoffed "And there I was thinkin' you had no idea I had been lyin' in a hospital bed for 3 weeks."

"I knew."

Wade flicked his head in acknowledgment; he didn't really know what to say but the tension was growing so he had to say something although Earl stepped in again this time however he spoke with a bit more emotion.

"Your mama never liked Roger."

"I know." Wade said defeated.

"From the day you brought him home with that dead snake in his hand she said he was bad news."  
"I should've listened to her."  
Earl shrugged his shoulders "No one could have predicted what happened. Not even your mama."  
Wade swallowed hard, he and Earl had never spoken about his mother so much in his life and although it felt strange it also felt nice.

"You knew about what happened between me and him, about the fight all those years ago?"

Earl nodded "I did, I knew the minute you came home that somethin' had happened, you had that look in your eyes, the same look you had when you and the Doctor broke up."

Wade's head shot up. All these years he had passed his father off as a drunk who was too steamed to take notice of the goings on in his son's life but it turns out Earl had been paying attention, a lot of attention.

"That look of regret, fear and knowin' you had made a mistake."

"Well it was a mistake, a huge one and I'm payin' for it now trust me."

Earl looked down at his chest; he could see the outline of his strapping through his tight t-shirt and sighed "Wade I stayed away these past few weeks because I couldn't face you, knowin' that the reason you were there was because of me."

"No Earl listen-"

"No you listen…" he sat forward in the chair and stared Wade right in the eye "I were never a good enough father to you or to Jesse, you had to go out and do it on your own. You made mistakes and I were never there to put you back on the right track 'cause me and the right track parted ways a long time ago but…" he paused as he cleared his throat "…you proved me and everyone else wrong and you have become a man any father would be proud of."

Wade swallowed hard, his father had never spoken to him like that before. He had never expressed any emotion to him since his mother died and it felt, well it felt amazing. He wasn't really sure what to do next, he guessed Earl was finished speaking but he wasn't ready to respond. Earl reached over and placed his warm hand on the back of Wade's head and tapped it gently "You're a good man Wade, you always have been, don't let you or anyone else make you think otherwise."

What was more important to Wade was that as his nose collided with Earl's shirt he couldn't get that familiar smell of liquor, he bit his lip to contain his emotion but it was no use as without really thinking threw his arms around his father and for the first time since he was 10 years old hugged his father. Earl, completely taken aback pulled Wade into him, he had forgotten what it felt like to hug his son, in fact he forgot what it was like to have a proper sober conversation with his son.

"You are too dad…" Wade choked.

Earl pulled away and smiled as he composed himself "I hear you and Lemon have been havin' some money problems."

Wade nodded "Yeah, looks like we're gonna have to sell."

"Well how much do you need? To keep you afloat at least."

Wade thought for a moment "Around 10 grand."

Earl sighed as he looked out onto the backyard, almost in darkness. Wade followed his stares and noticed, spread out across the yard a series of holes in the grass. He looked over at Earl who had a small, content smile on his face.

"Earl, what's with all the holes?"

Earl laughed "You always were a beat behind boy weren't you?"

Wade chuckled at Earl's joke but soon resumed to his earlier question, how had he not noticed this as soon as he arrived.

"Like I said son, you've always been a good man, a kind man. Them holes belong to you. I were just storin' 'em for you."

"Storin' what?"

Earl smiled as he leaned forward in his seat and pointed to the corner of the yard as Wade's jaw dropped….

….

Zoe flipped through the pages of her magazine, wagging her left leg that was thrown over her right with not a care in the world as the kitchen door pulled open slowly and in staggered Wade with a pained expression on his face. Once he saw Zoe he suddenly realised he was at least an hour late and he was in no mood to have an argument with her.

"I'm sorry…" he said effortlessly as Zoe noticed the expression on his face. Wade looked around the kitchen for a sign of culinary action but it looked spic and span, just as Annabeth had left it "…where's dinner?"

"What dinner?" Zoe quipped.

Wade sighed as he took a seat beside her "What d'ya mean?"

"Well…let's just say Burt Reynolds had a nice dinner."

"I'm sorry, I didn't realise I'd be this late."

"Oh it wasn't because of you. The dinner was a disaster, the vegetables like exploded, the potatoes I'm fairly sure disappeared and the duck turned a charcoal colour."

Wade raised his brow "Duck? Wow I'm glad I was late."

Zoe gasped and for the 3rd time today hit him playfully across the arm.

"I'm just kiddin' Doc but why were you tryin' to cook duck? What's wrong with mac and cheese?"

"Because mac and cheese is a) not romantic and b) not an 'I'm sorry' meal…"

Wade looked over at "An I'm sorry meal? Why would I be gettin' an I'm sorry meal?"

"Because I messed with your mind and had you thinking that Jonah was better in bed than you."

Wade smiled at her, she was so cute when she was vulnerable. He placed his hand on her upper leg and rubbed it "You didn't mean it intentionally."

"I know but it still bothered you and I'm glad that you can joke about it but-"

"But nothin' alright its fine." He placed a kiss on her lips to reassure her and soon her mind was at ease.

"How was Earl?" she asked.

Wade sighed "I wanna tell you, I do but I gotta tell Lemon first."

"Lemon?"

"Yeah…"

Zoe could tell Wade wasn't going to crack so she decided to leave it, he would tell her when he was ready.

"There was another reason why I was late home though…" Wade said digging his hand into his pocket. Zoe looked down as he took her hand in his and dropped something into it. She peeled back her fingers to discover the gold locket he had given her, it had been repaired and even cleaned. The last time she had seen it she had placed it in his hand as he went up for surgery and seen as he had never brought it back she just presumed it had been left behind in the hospital.

She could feel the tears forming as she cracked a humongous smile across her face "Wade..."

"I remember you puttin' it in my hand in the hospital and I tried to get it repaired but they didn't have the proper sized clasp but when I went to Earl's tonight he showed me a locket my mom had along with a few other things, and it was identical to yours so he let me replace it."

Zoe looked down at the gold chain that held the locket close to her, this locket had value to her but now it meant ten times more, for the first time she felt like Wade's family.

"Things are lookin' up Zo, I can feel it."

Zoe laughed through the tears as she pulled him in for a kiss.

"I love you…" she whispered through their joint lips.

"I love you too."

…**.**

**Please let me know what you thought and hopefully I'll have the next chapter up by Thursday! Thanks **


	17. Chapter 17

**Thanks to everyone for the reviews! This story is coming to an end but I have a few more ideas up my sleeve ;) Anyway hope you enjoy and if you have picked up on any of the previous clues you will know what is happening next! This chapter is sort of fluffy I guess. Hope you enjoy (:**

….

"5 more minutes…"

"I really can't. Brick will kill me, I already took the weekend off I can't take Monday off too."

"As far as I can see Brick is the flakiest partner ever, I'm sure you can squeeze one more day off."

"You are making it really difficult you know that right?"

Wade laughed as he shrugged his shoulders, she was cracking he could feel it. He looked down at her, her arm strung across his stomach wearing only a bra and skimpy shorts. He wasn't a selfish guy but he liked being selfish with her, in fact he loved being selfish with her so he was going to grab every chance he got to be alone with her, just the two of them.

"We can't stay locked up in this carriage house for the rest of our lives. You do know that right?" Zoe asked as she sat up in the bed and reached down onto the ground for his t-shirt and put it on, knowing full well that covering up her cleavage would fluster him.

"Oh we can." He said as he pulled at her t-shirt or his t-shirt rather and leaned in for a kiss. Zoe let him kiss her but pulled away once she felt his fingertips on her upper leg.

"I may be mistaken but didn't you say a few weeks ago that us being in such close quarters was a bad idea."

Wade sighed, she was too smart for her own good "Well yeah but I was also on a lot of medication so really it was the drugs talkin' not me."

Zoe laughed as she wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed her lips against his slowly lowering herself back between the sheets, her head was at the bottom of the bed but that didn't matter at all as she was too distracted by the handsome blonde showering her neck in kisses.

"Okay…" she said defeated "…just one more day but only because we are celebrating."

"Exactly. We are celebratin'. What exactly are we celebratin' again?"

"Mmm well on Friday it was celebrating your dad giving you 10 grand to save the Rammer Jammer but after that I really don't know why!"

Wade burst out laughing; he wasn't going to argue with their reasons for locking themselves away for the past 4 days. He re-attached his lips to hers and began to move his hands up her back and tugged at her bra.

"Oh I better text Brick and let him know I wont be in." she said pulling away as Wade's face fell into the soft mattress.

"Good lord woman would you ever just let me kiss you!"

Zoe chuckled at his frustration as she reached for her phone, Wade watched as she pressed the phone to her ear.

"I thought you said you were gonna text him?"

Zoe shook her head as there was a knock on the door "Brick can't even read his own writing never mind a text message. Answer the door would you? It's probably Lavon dropping off a package my mom sent."

Wade sighed as he hopped off the bed, if he didn't remember correctly the last time Zoe said Lavon was at the door things turned out badly, well for him at least. In only his blue boxers Wade made his way to the door and lazily opened the door to see Lemon standing there. His jaw dropped as he suddenly became very aware of his bare chest. Lemon however rolled her eyes and pushed her way past him and walked into the hallway.

She looked around the hallway. The bedroom door was shut but she knew full well Zoe Hart was in there probably wearing the same amount if not less items of clothing.

"So this is where you have been hidin' out…" Lemon said as she examined the colour of the walls, it wasn't her taste but then again when anything Zoe Hart did or wore was of her taste.

Wade shook his head and coughed "I've been sick" he coughed again to try make his illness believable he knew it was no use as Lemon threw her hands on her hips and pouted.

"Well while you were livin' in sin with Doctor Hart I have been busy puttin' our business back together."

"You mean with the money my dad gave me?"

Lemon opened her mouth but nothing came out. She shook off his comment as he gave a satisfactory smile.

"As I was sayin'. I have paid the bills, the repairs and last months and this months wages all with a bit leftover."

Wade smiled as he crossed his arms across his body, Lemon had done a surprisingly good job and seen as there was money leftover they could put it in the account for future purposes at least that's what he thought. Slowly but surely a mischievous smile appeared on her face as Wade shook his head.

"Lemon no!"

"Wade would you calm down."

"You've planned a party haven't you? And you've spent the leftover money on this party haven't you!?"

"Well Annabeth thought it was a brilliant idea."

Wade turned to face the wall and knocked his head against it in an attempt to keep calm, the doctor said stress was bad for him and that he should avoid it, clearly this doctor knew he was business partners with Lemon Breeland.

"How far along in the plannin' are you exactly?"

"The banner and streamers are bein' delivered at 11 and the food is in the oven which has been fixed by the way."

Wade dragged his hand across his face "Do I have any say in this at all?"

"None whatsoever." Lemon said as she made her way to the door while Wade followed her.

"What time is thing at anyway?"

"You and your wife are required to be there at 8 sharp."

"She is not my wife! And would you be quiet she is in the next room!"

Lemon rolled her eyes; she could never keep up with the goings on of Zade these days "Well it is only a matter of time."

"Goodbye Lemon. We'll see you tonight." Wade said sarcastically as he shut the door and threw his back against it for support. He let out a long sigh as he thought long and hard. How long was it before Zoe became his wife?

…

Wade kicked at the dirt by his feet as he walked towards town hand in hand with Zoe who was more than aware of Wade being in a whole other world since Lemon's visit earlier in the day. She had tried everything to get his attention; she even suggested a joint bubble bath but he declinde and instead worked ruthlessly at the loose floorboard that had been broken since the day Zoe moved in.

Even though they were holding hands Zoe felt a world away from him, not even dressing provocatively could seem to catch his attention and she had put a lot of effort into picking out a black skin tight dress with heels and not to mention the 30 minutes spent on curling her hair. He could only muster a sweet smile when she emerged from the bathroom in her outfit and when she suggested the idea of them being late to the party he declined saying Lemon needed him by her side.

Every conversation she started he played down with a grunt or a laugh so she decided to start a conversation that would get a serious response.

"I'm pregnant."

"Huh!" Wade screeched as he let go of her hand and froze on the spot.

Zoe laughed "Finally, I was beginning to forget what your voice sounded like."

Wade look around as he began to feel the sweat roll down his back, as if thinking about one serious commitment hadn't caused him enough grief he did not need one more especially not one this big.

"You're…I mean we're…you're-"he spluttered out.

"No Wade I am not pregnant. I just needed something good to get a reaction out of you. You've been distant all day."

Wade sighed, he thought he was doing a good job of covering up his weirdness but obviously not.

"I'm just nervous, that's all."

"About the party?"

Wade paused slowly drifting back into his own little world "Uh yeah the party…" he took her hand in his again and began walking as the lights of the town came into sight "…We've got a second chance Lemon and me, I just want to do it right."

Zoe rested her head on his arm and looked up at him "and you will I know it." She pressed her lips against his and smiled.

"And hey Zoe…"

"Yeah?"

"I promise I wont freak out like that if one day you actually are-"

"Hey there you guys are!" A voice said from behind as Wade sighed, why was it whenever he wanted to have a serious moment with Zoe someone always interfered and this time it was George doing the interfering. Zoe felt the same way, she knew what he was going to say but she wanted to hear the words come from his mouth.

"Hey Tucker…" Wade said as he rubbed the back of his neck.

"You guys headin' over to the Rammer Jammer?"

Wade nodded bluntly as Zoe scoffed, she wanted alone time with him too but she wasn't going to be rude about it.

"Yes we are, we are also curious to see what Lemon has planned."

"Ah yes, knowing Lemon its going to be something…well something outrageous!"

Zoe laughed along with George but Wade was mute, yet again. George dug his hands deep in his pockets and cleared his throat.

"Well look there's a reason why I'm 3rd wheelin' y'all…" Wade stopped and looked up once he picked up on George's serious tone of voice.

"I got a call from the DA today to say that no charges are being filed against Wade and that Roger is facing around 3 years in jail…"

"3 years?"

"Yeah, they've tacked on some time for outstanding offenses they never got him on and the restraining order I put in for was accepted so he wont be around, I think they said he has a cousin in Birmingham that is willing to put up with him until then."

Wade let out a huge sigh of relief as Zoe let out a sigh of relief into his chest.

"Tucker, thank you, really. I don't know how we would have gotten through all this without you."

Zoe wiped the tears from her cheek and wrapped her arms around George and hugged him "Yeah George thank you."

"Well it is my job…I better go, I have a few other things before going to the Lemon extravaganza. I'll see you guys later."

"Bye…" Wade said after him too wrapped up in pulling Zoe into his warm body and kissing her than to bid George farewell. As he held her all he could think about was wanting to hold her for the rest of his life.

"I'm proud of you Wade and maybe I don't say it enough but I am, these past few months you've been…you've been the man I always knew you could be."

Wade smiled as he tightened his grip around her waist; his nostrils tingled at her sweet scent as he rested his forehead on hers.

"How about we skip the party…"

"And go where?"

Wade sighed "Anywhere. Away from here with Lemon and her crazy party."

Zoe smiled; she liked the sound of that idea, just the two of them locked away from the rest of the world.

"As tempting as that sounds…" she trailed off as Wade sighed "…Lemon has clearly put a lot of thought into this night and you need to be there to support her."

"Zoe Hart are you actually supportin' Lemon and her whacky party?"

"Mmm I'd like to see it more as me supporting you and your dreams…come on. It will be fun."

Wade groaned "Okay fine but only on the condition you let me get you nice and drunk and then take you home to show you a good time."

Zoe wrapped her arms around his neck and stroked the ends of his hair "I wouldn't have it any other way." She pressed her lips against his although smiling uncontrollably. Kissing him was her favourite thing in the world and in that moment she was sure she wanted to kiss him for the rest of her life and sometimes, even if it was only for a split second she got the feeling he was thinking the same thing.

Zoe felt his warm hands ride up her legs and settle on the small of her back as he tugged at her dress. He had her, in that moment he had her hooked as his tongue crept in past her bottom lip and his heavy breathing soaked through her pours he had her hooked.

"Maybe…" she said pulling away but his lips followed "…maybe we should skip the party and just go home and-"

"Have you two no self-control whatsoever?!" A voice said from behind. Wade growled as he looked around to see Lavon standing there with a bag in his hand.

"You see Lavon, this is how you treat your girl. I can give you some tips if you like…"

Lavon rolled his eyes as Zoe laughed into Wade's shirt.

"Hey Big Z you think maybe I could talk to Wade for a sec?"

Wade cocked his head once he sensed Lavon's serious tone he reached for Zoe's hand and squeezed it. Zoe looked up at him and then at Lavon.

"Yeah sure…I have to get something at the practice but I'll meet you guys over at the Rammer Jammer."

Wade nodded as he kissed her goodbye and Lavon smiled as he watched her walk away "And hey…" Lavon called after her "…try not get kidnapped this time!"

Zoe shot him a look and continued walking as Wade glared at him, Lavon laughed awkwardly realising that maybe that particular joke belonged to his mind only.

"Still too soon?"

"Always."

Lavon nodded awkwardly before returning to the reason he broke up their PG13 moment. He gripped at the bag in his hand and cleared his throat.

"I found this in my kitchen. I think it's the bag of stuff Earl gave to ya when you visited him last week."

Wade shrugged, he didn't know why Lavon giving him a bag of stuff required Zoe leaving.

"Uh thanks…I guess. You done bein' weird? Zoe's waitin' on us."

Lavon nodded as he watched Wade turn his back to him and began walking. He tried to refrain from what he was about to do but he just couldn't.

"Uh Wade hang on. There's somethin' else."

Wade stopped in his tracks and looked around "What? What is it?"

Lavon paused as he reached into his pocket " I didn't mean to snoop but it caught my eye when I was clearin' away the bag…" he pulled out a small blue velvet box "…and I came across this."

Wade sighed as Lavon moved closer before opening the box to reveal a ring, an engagement ring.

"Wade, are you goin' to ask Zoe to marry you?"

.

.

.

.

**So so sorry for the delay in updates. We are having unusually good weather so I've been packed busy! Please let me know what you thought and hopefully the next chapter will be up within the next few days! Thanks (:**


	18. Chapter 18

**Thank you so much for all the reviews, I hope you enjoy this chapter just as much!**

…

Wade pushed the brush across the floor of the Rammer Jammer collecting the last few remaining nut-shells and plastic cups from the night before. He could barely keep his eyes open as he scanned the floor for any more bits of rubbish that he may have missed. It was peaceful, that peace you could only experience as the sun came up and the birds chirped. How he had managed to be roped into opening the bar the morning after the party that Lemon threw was beyond him but nevertheless he obliged and at half 5 he pulled himself away from the comfort of Zoe's bed, showered and strolled through the town all while taking in the tranquillity of the morning. It had been a while since he opened the bar and although it was exhausting it was also soothing and gave him time to think, about everything.

As he stepped across the floor he felt something sticky beneath him and soon discovered that some Einstein had knocked a glass of beer off the table and onto the floor all while failing to clean it up properly resulting in one big sticky mess. He groaned to himself before going outback and getting the mop and bucket. As he waited for the water to boil he lifted every chair onto their respective tables and yawned, recalling on the nights events. He would never admit it fully to Lemon but the party was a success. Everyone in town turned out to show their support. The drinks were flowing and guitars playing as everyone appeared to be having a great time, worry free. He thought about how all night people showered him and Lemon with praise and congratulations. He thought about how every time he lifted his head his eyes immediately fell to Zoe and the smile plastered across her face. They had never really had a happy memory together when it came to the Rammer Jammer and it felt nice to know that finally they could erase all the horrible memories and replace them with happy and enjoyable ones.

One thing however he did not enjoy was that voice, that voice gnawing at his ear constantly, that voice that also went by the name of Lavon. Wade could have sworn he had hidden the bag of things that Earl gave him away in a spot where no one would have ever looked. He decided to put it in the back of Lavon's linen closet, a place where no one ever went but the day he went to hide it he stopped off in the kitchen for a beer first but Zoe chased in after him with a panicked look on her face after discovering a racoon on her door step. Wade completely forgot about the brown bag sitting on Lavon's kitchen counter after that and it wasn't until Lavon confronted him about it last night did he remember his mistake. All night all Lavon could do was nag him about his discovery and truth be told Wade didn't know what to tell him. Earl had slyly dropped the ring into Wade's hand as he was leaving and wouldn't take no for an answer so Wade decided to take it and hide it, which he did.

"You look like a man makin' a life alterin' decision…" Lavon said from the doorway and Wade's head shot up at his low yet chirpy voice.

"And you look like a man who's cruisin' for a bruisin'…" Wade quipped as he pushed the mop into the bucket and watched the bubbles race to the waters surface.

Lavon laughed as he pushed himself off the frame of the door and walked into the bar placing his hat on top of the chairs.

"I see you were the one elected to clean up the mess. How long have you been here?"

Wade shrugged his shoulders as he dragged the mop across the floor "Not long, since about 6. What are you doin' up so early?"

"I have a busy day but I just wanted to call in and see you before things got hectic. I thought maybe you and I could talk."

"Look Lavon, Earl put the ring in the bag and I was hidin' it-"

Lavon shook his head "Nah not about the ring, I chewed your ear off about that enough last night."

Wade let out a sigh of relief "Oh okay, then what's up?" he placed the mop in the bucket and wiped his hands dry as Lavon composed himself.

"I never got a chance to tell you last night but I'm real proud of you Wade. You proved everyone wrong, even me."

Wade looked down at the floor and smiled "Thanks Lavon."

Lavon nodded but he wasn't quite done "Here's the thing. I know that right now you and Zoe are in this blissed out, everythin' is perfect stage and whether you intend to give her that ring now or 10 years from now I need you to promise me that you wont hurt her again. That when this blissed out stage ends and things have the chance to go bad that you won't freak out again."

Wade sighed, if he was being honest he was expecting a talk like this from Lavon since the moment he and Zoe got back together but fortunately or unfortunately for him he was a little preoccupied with being shot to be cross-examined by Lavon who was only looking out for his friend, both of them.

"Remember after Zoe and I broke up and you accused me of takin' that money?"

Lavon nodded in shame.

"I made a promise to myself that not only would I win back Zoe's trust but yours too. I know I let you down Lavon by hurtin' Zoe and that you don't like seein' me with Zoe cause you think I'm goin' to screw up again but I…I need you to know that-" he paused "that Zoe means the world to me and I promise you I ain't gonna hurt her again, or you."

"I just don't want to see either of you guys gettin' hurt again." Lavon said in an honest tone as Wade smiled.

"First day back on the job and you're slackin' off already." Lemon said as she threw her hands on her hips and moaned. Wade turned around to see Lemon standing in the doorway with a bag of groceries in her hands. He hadn't realised it was near opening time already and soon realised that he should get a move on with mopping the floor and then get the ovens fired up for the breakfast rush.

Lemon looked over at Lavon and then back at Wade before getting the feeling that maybe she had walked in on something that had nothing to do with her which meant it must have been juicy gossip and that meant she had to know what was going on.

"Oh my, what have I walked in on? Breakin' up a bro-ment?" she chuckled to herself as Wade rolled his eyes.

"Wade's gonna ask Zoe to marry him." Lavon said proudly causing Lemon to drop the bag of groceries and Wade to drop the bucket of warm water all over the clean floor.

"What!" Lemon screeched.

"Lavon!" Wade followed in the screeching.

Lavon smiled "It's true."

Wade dragged his hand across his face as he wished in that moment he could just curl up into a ball and die.

"Wade Kinsella you better not propose to the Doctor."

Wade looked around, confused. "What? Why not?"

Lavon smiled "So it's true, you are gonna propose?"

"What? No I ain't!"

"No? Well now Lavon why would you say such a thing if it isn't true?" Lemon asked feeling slightly disappointed that she could have potentially been the first person to hear the biggest scandal of Bluebell since her and George split.

"So you're just hidin' your mother's engagement ring in my house for what, for fun?" Lavon enquired.

"Your mother's engagement ring? I have seen that ring before and let me tell you Zoe Hart will not-"

"Okay that's enough!" Wade snapped as he had his arms outstretched as a sign of protest. Lemon and Lavon looked at each other, maybe they had taken things a step too far.

"First off, Lemon I am not slackin' I have been cleanin' this place since before the sun came up and secondly…" He turned to Lavon "…Yes okay my dad gave me my mom's engagement ring with the intention that _someday _I will give it to Zoe. If she wants it but right now I don't think she does. Now you two are the only ones that know about this and you two also know that Zoe and I are takin' things slow, that we don't wanna screw up again so please, just stop it and please do not sayin anythin' to Zoe. Please."

….

Zoe poured the final drop of coffee from the pot into her mug and groaned, she didn't have the energy to make more so a half cup would have to do. She rested her head against the countertop. The cold felt nice against her head as she began to think maybe she had drank just a little too much the night before.

"Zoe are you okay?" Annabeth asked as she came up behind her. Zoe looked up and groaned again, how was it that she managed to look so radiant and bubbly so early in the morning?

"I think the days of staying up all night and drinking _a lot _of alcohol may be over…."

Annabeth nodded as she put on a fresh pot of coffee "Yeah you were pretty happy last night to say the least. It was a good night though."

"It was." Zoe said smiling as she recalled the nights events "I'm really happy for Wade…and Lemon."

"Let me tell you one thing, Lemon Breeland was definitely happy for Lemon Breeland. I have never seen her so proud and Lemon-like at least not since her and George split up."

"And yet she still hates me."

"I don't think she hates you. She is just really protective, she was protective of George and now she is protective of Wade."

Zoe sighed, she didn't normally care what Lemon Breeland thought of her but seen as Lemon and Wade were now business partners and her and Wade were finally back on track she thought the two of them should at least try to be civil, for Wade's sake.

"Well whatever I don't care. At least Wade is happy that is all that matters."

Annabeth smiled "And he is happy. You both are."

"Yeah…" Zoe smiled to herself before addressing the issue that had been eating away at her all night and followed her through to the morning "…he was really nervous last night though."

"Nervous? Because of the re-opening?"

"No." Zoe said confidently "Because…okay you have to promise not to say a word to Lavon about this but…Yesterday when Lemon came to tell Wade about the party I overheard them talking and she said that she would see him and his wife later. His wife! And then Wade freaked out completely and told her to be quiet because I was there!"

Annabeth stared at her blankly, admittedly she was hoping for something a little bit more juicy than that. Zoe waited for a reaction but got nothing so reiterated the main point of the story that Lemon called her Wade's wife but still nothing.

"AB, did you hear me? Wife! I am not Wade's wife! Why would Lemon say that? Other than to get under Wade's skin."

Annabeth sighed as she dropped her shoulders, she wanted to give Zoe the response she had hoped for but she couldn't. It was clear to everyone in town that both Wade and Zoe were serious, very serious in fact, to the point where most considered them married, without the actual label of marriage because neither could make an actual commitment to save their lives.

"Zoe, I mean this in the nicest possible way because well I know how…you can get but-"

"But what?"

"Well it's just that…you and Wade are very much in denial about the nature of your relationship."

"What?" Zoe asked, genuinely confused over what Annabeth had just told her.

Annabeth rolled her eyes and decided to stop zigging and zagging and to just come right out with it, it was high time both Zoe and Wade addressed this issue.

"You and Wade, well you're married."

"No we aren't?"

"Not legally but yeah you are. Think about it, you guys practically live together, the only time you guys aren't makin' out or swoonin' over each other is when you're at work and even then you're both thinkin' about each other."

"Okay so we're spending a lot of time together is that a crime?"

"No. What is a crime is that neither you nor Wade will admit that you guys are in a serious, marital type relationship. Any sign of commitment and you guys freak."

Zoe sat back as she took in what Annabeth said, maybe she was right. Her and Wade had said they were taking things slow but in reality they weren't but he had also never shown any serious sign of commitment to her. Suddenly her brain went into overdrive and she began to panic, she was a 30 year old woman who could not make a serious commitment and what was worse she didn't think Wade was capable of such a thing either.

Annabeth didn't want to be the one to break the news to Zoe, she thought Lavon would have done it but she couldn't go on much longer with all the denial, she couldn't understand how two people who were so in love with each other were unable to admit that they were serious about each other, serious enough to think about making the next step.

"Don't you and Wade ever talk about the future…marriage? A family?"

Zoe looked around the room nervously, if she was to be honest with Annabeth they didn't talk about it. It was easier to play their relationship down as 'taking it slow' or 'seeing what happens' than to actually ask about the future and ever since Wade had asked her to marry him while he was in hospital albeit on heavy medication all Zoe could think about was if he would ever ask again but she feared that there was too much history, too many negative memories for him to ever build up the courage to ask her again.

"Just because neither of us have said it doesn't mean we aren't serious about each other. He tells me every night that he loves me and that's enough."

Annabeth smiled, she loved just how prideful Zoe was and stubborn at the same time. She had a feeling though that she had set something off because as she watched Zoe leave the kitchen she got a glow from her, a glow she had never seen before telling her that Zoe Hart was curious, she had questions that demanded answers.

….

"So Lemon actually inspected every square inch of the floor to make sure you hadn't missed a spot? It's official she is crazy."

"Yeah I know, by lunch I was ready to kill her. My shoulders are killin' me too."

Zoe gave him a sympathetic frown as she placed her bowl onto the coffee table and threw her legs over his as they both flaked out on the couch.

"I'll give you a massage if you want…"

"Hmm I might just take you up on that Doc" he kissed her lightly as she smiled.

"I missed you today…" he said sweetly as he looked over at her whilst playing with her feet.

"I missed you too..." she ran her fingers through his hair as she stared him in the eyes "…we were just so swamped, it seems like the minute December comes around so does every bug, flu and virus known to man. It doesn't help that I am still recovering from last night too."

Wade smiled "Yeah you were pretty wasted last night."

Zoe gasped as Wade laughed lightly.

"Shut up I was not." She hit him playfully on the stomach before resting her head on his chest. She loved listening to his heartbeat, it was peaceful.

"Lavon hasn't talked to you at all today has he?" Wade asked trying to sound subtle.

"No...Annabeth hasn't talked to you has she?" Zoe asked, also trying to act subtle.

"Nope, she came in for lunch with Lemon but other than a quick hello...nothin'. Why?"

"Never mind…so listen this morning Annabeth and I were talking and we sort of got talking about you and me."

"Oh really…" Wade asked inquisitively as he let his hand drop to her waist "…and what were you talkin' about? My amazingly toned body or my kissin' skills or-"

"You're inability to commit. Or rather our inability to commit."

Wade's jaw dropped, he wasn't expecting that answer but he could tell by the look in her eyes that someone, specifically Annabeth had put an idea in her head and now she was going crazy over analysing the whole thing.

"Those are some awfully big words Doc…" Wade admitted as he pushed her legs off of his and bent over, resting his weight on his elbows.

"My point exactly or Annabeth's point and apparently the entire towns point."

"The entire town?"

Zoe nodded "Apparently the whole town thinks that we are 'married' but not really because we are afraid of making a real commitment to each other."

"That's not really of their business now is it?"

"No…its our business you and me."

"Zoe…"

"Wade. Do they have a point?"

Wade rolled his eyes to himself as he picked at the coffee table with his fingernail "You seem to think they do." He muttered to himself as Zoe looked over, she didn't want this to turn to a big fight but apparently it was about to turn into just that.

"Are you tellin' me that the people of Bluebell want us to make a serious commitment or _you _want us to make a serious commitment?"

"I-"

"That's what I thought…"

"Okay look it wasn't a problem before Annabeth mentioned it but now…"

"Now what?"

"Now it would be nice to know that you, we are serious about this relationship."

Wade growled "Zoe… how can you think that I am not serious about this relationship? After everythin' that has happened these past few months how can you think anythin' other than I love you and I want to be with it you."

"I love you too and I want to be with you too but it would be really nice to know that somewhere in the future that you can picture us in some sort of serious, solid commitment."

Wade stared at her blankly and with that she pulled herself off the couch and headed towards the bathroom, slamming the door extra hard just to let Wade know that he was not to follow her. At first Wade made an attempt to apologise but once Zoe had expressed her feelings through a series of slamming and stomping he re-treated back to the couch where he double checked to see if Zoe was still caged up in the bathroom before reaching into his back pocket and pulling out the blue velvet box he had retrieved from Lavon earlier that day. He looked back at the bathroom door and smiled, knowing that the stubborn borderline crazy woman on the other side had just given him the answer he had been waiting for… she was ready for a proposal, she wanted a proposal and little did she know she was about to get one.

**I am priding myself in how fast I got this chapter up! Only one chapter to go! Please let me know what you thought! Thanks (:**


	19. Chapter 19

**The final chapter, I hope you enjoy it ! **

…

"Well I hope you're happy." Zoe announced as she slammed her handbag onto the countertop causing Lavon to jump at the sound of her harsh yet slightly sarcastic tone. He looked over at Annabeth who shrugged her shoulders, she presumed it had something to do with Wade but it was early in the morning so she questioned what could have possibly happened between last night and this morning that left the Doctor in such a flurry.

"Big Z…calm down now, what has Lavon Hayes done this time that has you all in a flurry."

"Oh Lavon Hayes has done nothing its Lavon Hayes' girlfriend…"

Annabeth's eyes bulged from their sockets, what trouble had her big mouth gotten her into now. She laughed innocently in an attempt to calm Zoe down but she could tell by the burning stubbornness in her eyes that Zoe was nowhere calm and had probably been left alone with her whacky thoughts for too long and had now constructed a life-ending scenario in her mind.

"Well what have I done now!"

"You…" Zoe proclaimed "…convinced me to talk to Wade."

"About…" Annabeth asked knowing full well what Zoe was talking about. Zoe rolled her eyes and huffed.

"About where our relationship was going..." She hadn't time to finish her sentence before Lavon chimed in with an honest gasp, at first he rolled his eyes at the latest Zade drama and laughed at Annabeth's naivety to get sucked in but once he heard just what she got sucked into he felt for her. One does not just put the idea of commitment into Zoe Hart's head without dealing with the repercussions.

Annabeth sighed as she saw just how down Zoe was "Zoe that was like 3 weeks I thought you guys made up."

"We did…" Zoe admitted as she took a seat beside Lavon who offered her a bagel as a sign of sympathy but Zoe refused "…but things are weird, he is so distant and it's like we can't say or do anything without that conversation looming over our heads."

"What exactly did I say again?" Annabeth asked nervously hoping she could correct her mistake and twist it in a way that was not entirely her fault.

Zoe shook her head at Annabeth's sudden flakiness "You said that Wade and I were married in the eyes of the town but that it was the closest we would ever come because we were afraid of commitment."

"You said that! I mean you actually said that to Zoe, who may appear emotionally stable on the outside but really, she isn't." Lavon shrieked as if Zoe wasn't standing beside him at all, turns out his girlfriend had gotten herself a little bit more than knee deep in Zade drama. Zoe nodded furiously in agreement as she began to relive the whole thing all over again.

"Well I just..I just said what I thought." Annabeth said in a small voice.

"You never do that with Zoe, ever!" Lavon said shaking his head along with Zoe who agreed with him. Annabeth looked at them both clueless, she didn't have words to describe just how confused she was but luckily she had Zoe there to snap her out of any self-pity she may have found herself in.

"Where is Wade anyway? He never showed for breakfast." Lavon questioned in an attempt to deflect the tension from Annabeth.

Zoe sighed "He's at the hospital for his 3 month check-up."

"And you didn't go with him?" Annabeth asked.

"No… he said that I would just ask the Doctor a load of stupid questions and that he had to do something in Mobile afterwards."

"Well what did he have to do?"

"He wouldn't say…" Zoe said heavily "…You know I really thought Wade and I had moved past the whole lack of trust thing but I guess not." She looked down at her hands dejectedly, maybe her and Wade were just fooling themselves with in thinking that they really were moving forward as a couple and that the issues that held them back in the past were merely painful memories…

Lavon and Annabeth looked at each other, they knew where Wade was really going after his hospital appointment but they weren't going to tell Zoe and ruin it on her no matter how worried or depressed she appeared.

"Well tomorrow is the big Rammer Jammer Christmas party so maybe Lemon has sent him on errands that would just bore you to bits!" Annabeth suggested trying to sound optimistic but nothing was working as Zoe sat there deflated and confused.

"Well at least I can drink my problems away that's something I suppose." Zoe said to herself as she moved off the stool and made her way to the door "I'm going to go to work and feel sorry for myself…. I'll see you guys later."

"Bye Z…." Lavon said after her as she shut the door. He hated seeing her so sad but he soon switched his attention to Annabeth, she needed a serious lesson in the school of Zade.

"AB, you know I love you and all but dammit it woman you need some serious teachin' when it comes to Zoe Hart and her brain….the woman cannot be told somethin' without takin' action!"

"Well Lavon how was I meant to know that she would go straight to Wade and spill her heart out?"

"Because she's Zoe! You tell that girl the sky is green and she'll investigate!" He sighed "…Let's just hope Wade gets to her before her head does…"

….

Zoe waited until Wade finally closed his eyes before letting out a long sigh resulting in a grunt from him. He twitched a bit in the darkness tugging at her waist to make sure she was okay which she wasn't so she tossed to her side and out of his grip. The only source of light was the moon shining in through the glass panel above the bed which Zoe hated because the heat that it created in the morning left her all sweaty and sticky. It was 2nd on her list of things she hated about Wade's house the first one being his bathroom. Her house was clean, the bed was made and the sheets were clean, there were no socks at the end of the bed that brushed up against her in the middle of the night causing her to jump. Her house had curtains that stopped the sun from shining in at half 5 in the morning and most of all her house did not have beer bottles all over the place which resulted in her standing on bottle caps and squealing like a pig.

Zoe kept her eyes firmly on the wall in front of her, she was determined to not let Wade's incredibly soft touch from getting the better of her, so as he rested his warm hand on her stomach and his torso against her back she crashed her eyes shut and stood strong. Wade knew something was bothering her aside from the fact that things between them were still weird following their commitment conversation a few weeks back.

"You wanna tell me what's botherin' you or are you just gonna huff and puff til you're blue in the face?"

"So you love me enough to notice there's something bothering me but just not enough to make a serious commitment to me…"

Wade rolled his eyes as he propped himself up in the bed "I thought we had moved on from all that? How many times do I have to apologise, you caught me off guard."

Zoe turned around to face him "So if I was to have given you some advanced warning then you would have been able to feed me some lie about our future?"

Wade bit his tongue knowing that if he gave too much away his surprise would be ruined completely and he had been planning it for so long he wasn't going to be the one to ruin it, at least not this way. Thank God all would be revealed tomorrow he thought to himself or else he and Zoe would be in some serious trouble.

"What do you want me to do Doc? You want me to knock you up here and now? That's commitment enough don't you think?"

Zoe rolled her eyes, this was really bothering her and she did not appreciate him making jokes about the whole thing. Maybe she was just completely overreacting the whole thing or maybe she had reason to question his commitment, he was the one who proposed in the hospital albeit high on medication but he was also the one who suggested they take things slow. She genuinely didn't want to fight with him especially not so close to their anniversary, if you could call it that, they had broken up and gotten back together so many times she couldn't really give it the title anniversary but she wanted to celebrate all the same.

She decided to drop the entire thing completely and bring up a topic she was really serious on, his trip to the hospital.

"How did it go with the Doctor today? Seen as you banned me from going with you."

Wade smiled down at her, he could tell by the tone of her voice that she had calmed down at little bit. His reasons for not wanting her there were legit, she would ask too many questions and he would just get nervous, of course he was leaving out the fact that she couldn't go with him because of the planning he was doing for tomorrow night.

"It went fine, I aint dyin' or nothin' so that's good." Zoe looked up at him and giggled, she couldn't deny the fact that his ability to cheer her up was golden and she really couldn't stay made at him for long.

"You're not lying to me? To spare my pain or anything?" She asked in a cute voice. Wade shook his head as he moved closer to her. He reached down and gently pressed his lips against her, he would never lie to her about his health, if the Doctor had said anything other than 'go live your life' then Zoe would be the first one he told.

"I love you for spendin' the night here even though I know you hate it." Wade said as Zoe turned into him.

She giggled a bit as she fiddled with the pendant around his neck "I don't _hate_ it here, I just prefer my house."

Wade smiled down at her "I prefer it too but I had to come back here I was runnin' out of clean clothes that's how much time I've spent at your house, I'm runnin' out of clean shirts, although…" he pulled the blankets back to see her in one of his shirts "…I don't think I can blame that fully on lack of washin' now can I?"

Zoe laughed as she pulled the blanket back over them "Shut up I like them, they're comfy… and I was thinking, leaving aside our recent dispute if maybe instead of you having to come back and forth for clean clothes every other night that maybe you would be interested in oh I don't know leave some of your stuff at mine, permanently…"

Wade looked down at her, his mouth slightly open with shock. He had to give it to her, she was determined to get some sort of commitment out of him. Little did she know what was coming her way…

"So by stuff you mean…"

"Jeans, socks…cell phone."

"Ohh my cell phone yeah okay I think I follow you now Doc and this stuff would stay, permanently? Can I stay permanently too?"

"Well only if you want to…" She said into his chest as he laughed, he was feeling satisfied that type of commitment would tie her over for the time being. Zoe pulled at the silver pendant around his neck as Wade lowered back down to her level and kissed her again.

"Are you all excited for the big Rammer Jammer Christmas party tomorrow night?" Zoe asked with a hint of sarcasm knowing full well that Lemon was pushing him to the point of insanity while organising this party. Wade's theory on it all was that Lemon did the planning and he showed up on the night but Lemon had other ideas and called him every time an idea came to mind.

Wade thought for a moment as he brushed his nose against hers "I'm more excited 'bout our anniversary week if I'm honest…."

Zoe gasped as pecked at his lips "So you were listening to me when I suggested an anniversary week away…"

"Are you kiddin'? A week of nothin' but you in a bikini and foolin' around on the beach? Of course I was listenin' Doc…"

Zoe laughed "I said nothing about going to the beach!"

Wade grinned as he tugged at her waist "I know I was simply contributin' to the idea. I think you should take it on board…"

"Duly noted…" Zoe whispered as she kissed him before falling back into his chest. She sighed a happy sigh as she listened to him breathe; she was pretty sure she would never get sick of lying here with him, it was her favourite part of the day.

"A lot has happened this year hasn't it…" Zoe admitted as she felt Wade's hand gently run up and down her side.

"Yeah most of which I'd like to forget" Wade said in shame as he suddenly remember everything that had happened, everything he had put her through and the hurt he had caused. Zoe disagreed, although she had painful memories from the past year she also had amazing memories, memories that were just theirs, which nobody else knew about… not even Lavon.

"Don't say that, yeah there were a lot of painful moments but Wade you're forgetting to see that we've made it through it together, okay? We've both made mistakes but it's not something for you to beat yourself up about, there comes a point where you have to forgive yourself… because I have."

"You mean that…" Wade whispered in a venerable tone.

"I forgave you the minute I stepped off that plane in New York, I just didn't trust you but that cleared itself up the minute you stood in front of that gun."

"And I'd do it again if it meant you were gonna be safe because I love you Zoe Hart."

Zoe smiled as she buried her face into his chest, she would never get sick of hearing those words leave his mouth.

"I love you too Wade Kinsella."

….

"You wanna hold back on the wine there Doc, I only got 3 bottle left and didn't have time to place a new order yet." Wade said as he leaned across the bar watching Zoe finish her second glass of wine.

"If I have to sit and listen to this ridiculous Christmas music and Lemons incessant chatter about how much effort she put into this party then I am going to drink as much wine as I like…"

"I thought you said you were excited for Christmas? This is Christmas sweetheart." Wade said as he looked around the bar which was filled with towns people dressed in annoyingly bright Christmas jumpers drunk on Christmas spirit instead of his beer.

Zoe leaned in closer to him in an attempt to drown out the music "I said I was excited about Christmas with you preferably minus our clothes… not in a crowded bar with the possibility that Dash could break out in song any minute now..."

Wade smiled as he pecked at her lips "Just don't get too drunk alright, I got somewhere I wanna take you later."

"Would this 'somewhere' have anything to do with where you went after your hospital appointment?"

Wade smiled "It might but you're just gonna have to wait and see."

Zoe groaned as she kissed him again "Well as much as I would love to stay here and kiss you I'm meeting Rose for hot chocolate and exchanging our gifts before she goes to her cousins for the holidays. So I will meet you at the Gazebo in like 40 minutes?"

Wade nodded as he poured a drink at the other end of the bar "Sure thing Doc… and hey don't go tellin' any guys you like 'em or nothin', that's our thing."

Zoe laughed as she hopped off the stool and flattened down her skirt. As she turned around Lavon and Annabeth came up behind her with hopeful smiles on their faces that they hadn't caused too much trouble between the couple.

Zoe dropped her shoulders and sighed as she passed by them "You guys can drop the smiles, everything is fine…" she turned around to Wade "…see you later roomie." She dropped a quick wink in his direction before scurrying out of the bar leaving Wade smiling to himself.

"Roomie?" Lavon enquired as he took a seat in front of a smiling Wade.

"Yeah, I uh… I made a commitment." He said smiling to himself.

"You asked her!" Annabeth shrieked.

Wade panicked as he tried to quieten her down before someone else overheard, luckily for him they were all too busy mingling to pick up on this certain piece of gossip.

"Would you two keep it down…" he moved closer to them and served them their drinks "… I haven't asked her yet alright."

"So what's the commitment she was talkin' about then?" Lavon asked as he played with his glass of scotch.

"Well she was really angry last night about the whole thing and I didn't want to let her know I do wanna make a commitment because that would just ruin tonight but I also thought that if I pulled away anymore then she would break up with me so when she suggested that we move in together I said yes."

Lavon chuckled "Well played my friend. So she has no idea at all?"

Wade shook his head as he picked at the bowl of nuts in front of him "Nope."

"So what's the plan for tonight?" Annabeth asked trying her best to keep her excitement on the down low.

"Dinner at her favourite restaurant in Mobile then instead of drivin' home a car is gonna collect us at the restaurant and bring us to one of them fancy hotels they got up there where she will walk into our room covered in candles and rose petals…"

Annabeth cooed, she never took Wade for such a romantic but then again she never really thought Wade and Zoe would get to this point in their relationship. She could only picture Zoe's face as she walked in on the hotel room filled with candles and rose petals. Lavon on the other hand rolled his eyes at Wades idea, not that he didn't think it wasn't romantic or that Zoe wouldn't like it but at the end of the day this was Wade and Zoe, nothing they do ever goes to plan so he didn't have much faith that this latest chapter in the Zade book would go without fault.

"You got the ring?" Lavon asked. Wade scanned his hands over his pockets in search of the box that he had guarded with his life but his eyes soon bulged from his eyes when he could no longer feel the box protruding from his pocket. He started to panic as Lavon and Annabeth looked at each other.

"Wade, where's the ring?"

"I…I don't know I had it this mornin' and this afternoon when I was gettin' this place ready and then I remember puttin' it on my bed after my shower before comin' here- oh god it's at home!"

He rubbed the back of his neck as he tried to keep calm but that was proving difficult and Lavon tried his best to calm him down.

"Look Wade don't freak alright, Zoe's with Rose so you can go get the ring and then come back here and she won't know a thing."

"Except I can't leave here, Wanda's out of town so we're short staffed and I had to bribe Lemon with a 50 dollar bill in order for her to let me leave early…. What am I gonna do!"

Annabeth thought for a moment when an idea came to mind "Just tell Zoe you forgot somethin' at home and that you gotta swing by the house before going to Mobile. She won't question it if you act cool."

Wade nodded his head as he took in Annabeth's advice "Yeah, yeah you're right. Thanks."

Annabeth smiled at Lavon who smiled over at Wade "So you're really doin' it huh? You're really askin' Zoe Hart to marry you."

Wade smiled as he dropped his head, he couldn't believe it himself. Admittedly he was nervous, not like a battle of the bands nervous but an excited nervous, nervous for the moment where he asks the love of his life to be his wife.

….

"I just have to get somethin' from the house and then we'll go alright?" Wade stated nervously as Zoe sat in the front seat of the car picking at her nails.

"Yeah okay sure." She continued picking at her nails and examining her hands as Wade moved away from the car and let out a sigh of relief.

"Oh Wade wait…" She called out after him as he stopped in his tracks. Zoe noticed he was a bit jumpy but took no real notice of it as she chased him before the two ended up at his front door.

"What, what, what you doin' there Doc?" he laughed nervously as he blocked the door.

Zoe creased her brow as she looked at him with a confused look "I left my jacket inside and I wanna wear it tonight."

Wade dropped his bottom lip and shrugged his shoulders "I'll get it, you go back to the car."

"But I'm here now?"

"Yeah but so am I so you just go back and I'll be there in a minute okay."

Zoe shook her head as she stepped past him but he mirrored her and stepped back once again. Zoe scoffed and soon became suspicious "Wade, why can't I go inside? What is it that you have to get that I can't see?"

Wade paused "Uh, you uh can't go in there because I have your Christmas present in there and I don't want you to see it."

Zoe thought about it…that seemed believable "Okay fine I'll go wait in the car, but can you get my jacket please? It's on the bed."

"Yeah sure." Wade nodded anxiously as he placed a small kiss on her cheek before turning her around back towards the car.

As Zoe waited in the car she couldn't help but think about Wade's unusual behaviour, she didn't really think much of it until they met up at the Gazebo and he jumped like a jack in the box and had been unusually quiet ever since. That was when it hit her, was Wade having second thoughts about moving in together? Had the moment passed for him and now he was suddenly slipping back in his Wade ways? She pondered over it until eventually Wade emerged from the gatehouse and hopped back in the car.

"Did you get it?" Zoe asked as she looked him up and down.

"Get what?" Wade started to panic as his hand fell upon his jacket pocket to see if the ring was there and hadn't fallen out on the way to the car.

Zoe rolled her eyes "My jacket, did you get my jacket?"

"Oh, no… but you won't need a jacket I promise." He smiled awkwardly as he turned the key in the ignition.

"Wade what's wrong with you? You are acting really weird."

Wade sighed as he reversed the car he looked over at her, her big brown eyes desperate for answers "I'm sorry Doc, I'm just really nervous 'bout tonight. I've been plannin' this for weeks now…" he placed his hand on her leg as he kept one eye on the road. Zoe smiled over at him, she loved seeing Wade being all nervous and squirmy, it was cute and she wasn't going to get hung up on one little thing when clearly he had put a lot of work into this night, whatever it was he had planned. She reached over placing her hand on the back of his head and went to press her lips against his but was disrupted when suddenly they bolt jolted forward as the car came to a sudden stop.

Zoe looked at Wade "Well that's a first" she joked as she looked out the window to see what had caused their untimely halt.

"Dammit…" Wade muttered under his breath "…its that darn battery, you know its all Lavon's fault. He told me to go to that stupid new garage in Mobile when really the one in Daphne is better and now we are gonna be late for the-"

"Okay Wade stop!" Zoe interrupted him "Just relax, we can just take my car alright, nothing to get so worked up over."

Wade sighed "Yeah you're right okay, I'm sorry."

Zoe rubbed his arm "It's okay, I'll just my keys…which are on my desk at the practice…" she groaned as they both knocked their heads back.

"And I'm guessin' that your key to the practice is on the same chain as your car keys?"

"You know me so well…" Zoe quipped as she ran her fingers through her hair "How about we just go back to Lavon's, get some of that leftover lasagne and then go back to my house, or our house should I say."

Wade smiled as he watched her bite her lip, on any other night he would have agreed but not tonight, he had put so much time and planning into making this the most amazing moment possible and now it was falling apart right in front of him. Maybe he should have just taken it as a sign and that for right now they should just focus on living together. They both sat in silence as he looked out the window when suddenly it dawned on him, where the car had conked was the exact spot where he had come across her on her first night in Bluebell that resulted in them making out in his car, the car they were sitting in right now.

"Get out of the car." Wade instructed as he jumped out of the car leaving Zoe clueless but she could tell by the sudden excitement in the voice that she should follow him. Wade took her by the hand and led her to the overgrown grass on the side of the road.

"You know where we are?" he asked as he kept a hold of her hand. Zoe looked around, it was 9 o'clock at night and they were standing on the side of one of the towns back roads but she got the feeling that wasn't the answer he was looking for. She looked him in the eyes as he smiled down at her and that was when it hit her, their little frolic all those years ago.

Zoe gasped "Wade Kinsella I have no idea what you're talking about. That never happened."

"Yes it did…" he said cutely "… I will never forget that night or this spot for as long as I live."

Zoe answered him with a light kiss before burying her head into his shirt as she felt his hands slip around her waist. Wade pressed his nose into her hair as he sighed, all the hard work he had put into tonight was gone and she was none the wiser. As Wade held her all he could think about was the look on her face when he asked her and that was when it hit him, he didn't need a fancy hotel room filled with candles and rose petals to ask her to marry him all he needed was a ring and a perfect moment, both of which he had right now.

"Zoe…" he muttered into her hair.

"Yeah…"

"I know things have been really weird between us lately and I wanna explain-"

"Your not ready for a serious commitment right now I know that and I'm okay with-"

Wade lifted himself away from her body just a bit "It's not that… look when my mom died I changed, not like I grew up but nothin' felt right anymore and it stayed that way for a really long time and durin' that time people started to see me as a guy who was destined to do nothin' more than drink beer and screw everythin' up, but then you came to town…"

He slyly dropped his hand in his pocket as she looked him right in the eye "Zoe you changed my life. You made me want to go out and forget what everyone else was sayin' and chase my dream. Even if it meant hurtin' you along the way and bein' hated by this whole town I still had enough in me to finally get what I want, well almost all I want…."

He took in a huge gulp of air as he reached in to his pocket and pulled out the blue velvet box. He was so nervous he almost forgot to drop to one knee. Once Zoe saw his gravitate towards the grass and land on one knee she gasped. She watched him lower to his knee as he pulled back the lid of the box to reveal the ring, it was a simple elegant band with a gem-shaped diamond sparkling up at her. To say she was speechless was an understatement, it all soon fell into place for her, his recent distance and short answers topped off by his uncertainty set up perfectly for a surprise proposal, his tactics had worked, she had definitely been thrown.

"What are you doing…" she said in small voice as he reached for her hand.

"You never answered me the first time, in the hospital…"

He swallowed hard as tears began to form in Zoe's eyes "…So what do you say Doc, will you marry me?"

Wade could feel her hand tremble in his, for a split second his mind casted back to that fence and the moment he told her he loved her and she failed to say it back, was that about to happen again? The silence between them grew as all Zoe could do was focus on was the beautiful ring in front of her, how long had he been planning this? Where had he hidden the ring? How could he possibly afford such a stunning ring? She tried to speak, she did but she just couldn't. The words just wouldn't come out.

"Yes."

"Yes? Really?" Wade asked in a slight state of shock.

Zoe laughed down at him as she let the tears stream down her face "Yes you big idiot, I'll marry you."

Wade let out a huge sigh of relief as he smiled up at her before realising he had yet to put the ring on her finger. He lifted it from the box and gently slid it on her finger trying his best to hide his shaky hand but Zoe noticed it and decided to calm his nerves by reaching down, wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him. Wade completely underestimated the force at which she came at him as he lost his balance and fell back into the grass but Zoe was too busy kissing him to notice that they were amongst the long stemmed grass.

Wade pulled away just as he felt his tongue creep along his bottom lip "You really mean it? You really want to marry me?"

Zoe laughed as she placed her two hands on his chest "I want nothing more than to be your wife…" she brushed her hand over his hair "…I love you so much."

"I love you too Doc …" he brushed away a loose strand of hair from her face "…and I really can't wait to spend my life with you."

Zoe smiled as she pressed her lips against his again with the biggest smile on her face, a week ago she was convinced her and Wade were on a one way street to separation when really he was just planning all of this. As she kissed him all she could think of was the future, how her and Wade could finally put the demons of their past behind them and focus on the future, their future.

…

**So yeah, there you go! Hope you all enjoyed and thank you so much for the reviews ! **


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